


We Can Choose The Future

by FloatingTriangles



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: F/M, Gen, Murder Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-07 07:39:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 45,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7706119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FloatingTriangles/pseuds/FloatingTriangles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Agro Tenma had no chance of following in his sister's footsteps and joining Hope's Peak until he won the academy's lottery, securing a spot as the Ultimate Luck. However, his introduction to the school was shrouded in mystery. When the initial dust settles, sixteen students are trapped inside the prestigious school with no way out in sight, haunted by a directive from their headmaster Monokuma to kill or be killed. It's a tale as old as time, but are these sixteen futures set in stone from the beginning? Can things change just because one wants them to?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Page 1

**Author's Note:**

> We Can Choose The Future is a narrative written in the style of a choose-your-own adventure book, a story that I wrote back in 2015. It was an idea that people really seemed to respond positively to, and I wanted to be sure it was easy to access in case anyone wanted to read my story again, and especially for people to discover for the first time.  
> That being said, as I finished the story last year, all of the branching paths have already been picked, but I'll keep in those choices at the end of each part anyway. I will post one part a day, so the full story should be uploaded in about two months.  
> The path that was ultimately picked back then will be bolded. With all that in mind, enjoy.

**Chapter 0: Goodbye Past Life, Hello Despair**

“Welcome to the seven o’clock news, I’m your host—“

You manage to slam your hand down, with practiced precision, on your alarm clock’s off button.

_Silence_.

Even though you’re groggy, you smile to yourself: you’ve managed to cut off that _insufferable_ host once again. He enjoys saying his name way too much at seven in the morning, you think…

You hear your mother calling you from down the hall, early than she usually does. “ _She’s probably excited_ ,” you think to yourself as you throw off your thin blanket with ease. “ _Never thought I’d follow in_ her _footsteps_.” You smirk to yourself as you trudge out your doorway, towards the light in the kitchen. “ _That makes two of us_.”

Your guess is correct. Your mother beams at you from her seat at the table. Pots and pans litter the counter and stove, and a full breakfast is laid out at the table. Your stomach growls, and you rush to your seat and begin to wolf down everything within reach.

Your mother eats as well, but she can’t help staring at you, as if she’s trying to memorize everything about you: unruly brown hair that never looks the same two days in a row; slightly crooked nose that never healed quite right after that one fight; that scar on your left hand, the slight discoloration that looks out of place considering your tan complexion. She drinks it all in, memorizing, remembering.

“Agro Tenma, soon to be an Ultimate just like your sister.” She sighs happily. “I never would have believed it, but fate works in mysterious ways!”

You nod, trying to not let your sudden displeasure show. You don’t like your name. It’s the one thing you know about your father, that he chose your name. Your mother doesn’t notice as she looks at the clock on the stove.

“Is that the time? Agro, hurry! You’ll be late for your last day at school!” She chuckles at her joke.

It takes only five minutes to finish getting ready, and soon you step out the main door of your small apartment, a backpack strap thrown lazily over one shoulder, wearing your traditional outfit of jeans and a random tee shirt, this one just plain gray. The streets are already noisy, but you’re a pro at tuning out sounds you don’t want to hear. As you walk to school, dodging traffic and the stream of pedestrians like yourself, you think about what has happened over the past three days.

Three days ago, Hope’s Peak Academy held a drawing to see who the first “Ultimate Luck” was going to be. Millions of high school students, but there could only one Ultimate. All it took was a few seconds, and Agro Tenma, general slacker and wasted potential, was transformed into an Ultimate. Problem was, you didn’t want the damn title. You had friends, friends who didn’t judge you for not being as smart as your sister, friends who cared. But your mother was so happy…you couldn’t disappoint her like that…not again. Everything was set. You were ready to begin your new life.

But first, of course, there was one last day of school. You snort at the ridiculousness of it. Suddenly, nearing the gates of your school, you see your friends beckoning you away. You know they don’t have any intention of going to school today, like usual. And normally you would join them without a second thought. But…tomorrow’s the start of your new life. It’s a new leaf, where you can make new choices, better ones. _Why not begin that change today?_ You pause, and in your mind’s eye you’re deciding the entire course of your day in an instant.

 

**_If you want to join your friends, head to page 17._ **

_If you want to head through the school gates for your last day as a regular high school student, turn to page 180._


	2. Page 17

_There’s no point in sticking around here_ , you think as you turn away from the school gates and head for your friends. They mockingly applaud as you approach, three of the people you trust most in the world: Leo, with his shark’s grin and dyed blue hair meticulously gelled and spiked; Hiro, wearing his sunglasses and too-large trench coat, expressionless as always; and Sigma, who was laughing his trademark obnoxious laugh and adjusting his Luigi cap, looking like he hadn’t showered in days (knowing his gaming habits, that was probably the case).

Your friends had their flaws, but you trusted them with your back countless times over the years, and they’d never let you down.

“Thought for a minute you weren’t going to join us, Agro,” Leo says, a knowing smirk on his face.

You roll your eyes. “You think I’m spending my last day cooped up in a classroom?”

Sigma claps a massive paw on your shoulder, nearly knocking you over. “That’s the spirit!”

You rub the sore spot. _Geez, for a guy who hates exercise as much as he does, Sigma’s still the powerhouse he’s always been._

“Take it easy, Sigma, you don’t want to kill the man before he goes off to Hope’s Peak,” Leo says, mock irritation in his voice, laughter bleeding through.

Sigma adjusts his cap awkwardly and apologizes, looking a bit dejected, but your smile perks him up again. No harm, no foul.

“The usual place?” Hiro’s voice is a rasp, and it didn’t help that he hardly ever talked.

Leo flashes a grin in his direction. “You know, I think our Silent Prince has the right idea!” He takes off running, leaving the rest of you to follow in his footsteps.

Fifteen minutes later, you’re sitting at a table at _Mr. Marcini’s Arcade_ , your gang’s usual haunt. Sigma is playing pinball in the corner, laughing and snorting with glee. Hiro watches over his shoulder, the lights glinting off the dark shades. Leo watches them for a moment, smiling and shaking his head, his blue quills staying rigidly in place.

“Yo, you remember when Sigma first moved to our district? He didn’t have a friend in the world.”

You nod, remembering a younger Sigma alone in a corner of the classroom. “They grow up so fast.”

Leo’s shark grin appears, but soon slides off his face. His gaze turns from Sigma’s antics to you. His hazel eyes meet your greenish gray. “Too true, my friend. Too true.”

You know what’s coming tomorrow, but something in Leo’s tone irks you, just a little bit. You hold up your hands in surrender. “Hey, Leo, I’m not dying or anything. I didn’t want anything to do with this Ultimate business!”

Leo rolls his eyes, and breathes out slowly. “Yeah, yeah. I’m just giving you a hard time.” He nods in the direction of the games. “Go play a few rounds. I’ll get us all something to eat.” He walks off before you can say anything else, so you just watch him go.

Your time at the arcade was spent much as it usually was: talking, laughing, and watching Sigma attempt to get the high score playing pinball. Leo was back to his usual self by the time he returned with the food. Nothing happened that would indicate an abrupt end to this pattern. As you left, many entertaining hours later, with the midafternoon sun bearing down, a chill passed through you.

_This is my last day._

Leo must have noticed something, because he abruptly changes direction, ducking down an alley and picking up speed, calling out that he’d changed plans. Hiro, Sigma, and you look at each other for a moment, and then follow. Leo’s path was one of many twists and turns, but you three were experts in navigating his madness. Soon, the four of you were standing in an abandoned parking lot.

A lone bench stood in a corner of the lot.

Hiro froze at the sight of it. “I don’t believe it.”

“I _knew_ it was still here!” Leo said, staring at the bench. He looked at you. “You remember what this was, right, Agro?”

You nod. Of course you remember: that bench was where the four of you determined that, for better or worse, you were stuck with each other. Friends.

Sweat pouring down his face, Sigma gasps and wheezes, waddling to the bench. Hiro silently joins him, trench coat scraping the ground. Leo looks at you, nods, and the two of you cram in too. The old bench creaks under your combined weight, but it does not break.

The four of you sit in silence, all of you thinking about different things.

Leo breaks the quiet. “Agro is leaving us for bigger and better things.” He pauses. “But that doesn’t mean he isn’t one of us for life!”

“Right,” Sigma says, nodding enthusiastically, his Luigi cap nearly flying off his head.

Hiro murmurs assent.

You’re not sure what to say.

Leo doesn’t wait for you, and holds up his cell phone. “A picture, for all the memories!”

_Flash!_

You return home just as school is getting out, just to be safe. Your mom works, but you’ve found out over the years that your neighbors are extremely nosy. You slip into the apartment, and head for your room. Your bag is basically ready…or so you thought, but you just realized that the front pocket (the one with the faulty zipper) doesn’t have anything in it. You could fit something in there, provided it was small enough. You throw a quick glance around your room. There’s your trusty Frisbee, a DVD of the movie _Sharks on a Plane_ , and the newest edition of _Glamorous!_ that was your sister’s prank of a congratulatory present. Some genius.

You consider, a hand on your chin. Which to choose?

 

**_If you choose the Frisbee, turn to page 23._ **

_If you choose the DVD, turn to page 43._

_If you choose the magazine, turn to page 63._


	3. Page 23

Bright and early the next morning, you stare at the gates to Hope’s Peak Academy. You feel vaguely uncomfortable. Partly this is because you can’t help but think of Leo, Hiro, and Sigma getting into trouble without you, and partly because your mom forced you into a white dress shirt because she apparently wasn’t satisfied in you going to the Academy in only a red tee shirt and black jeans. You unbuttoned the unwanted article the second you were out of eyesight, but you didn’t dare take it off. You’d learned over the years that mothers just _knew_ when they were disobeyed. And…she’d made you promise.

_This is it_ , you think and sigh, dropping your bag to the ground, Frisbee nearly falling out of the open pocket. You couldn’t help but feel a little nervous as you waited for the gates to open. The Academy was massive, many floors higher than your old school, and you were sure that you’d heard of at one person getting lost in its bowels and being found weeks later. It dwarfed the landscape, and you’d found out that there were rumors of even more construction in the future.

A voice from the intercom near the gates snaps you out of your thoughts and firmly back into the present. _“Agro Tenma, Ultimate Luck, welcome to Hope’s Peak Academy. Please proceed to the entrance hall. Introductions will begin at eight o’clock.”_

The gates swing open slowly. You pick up your bag, being careful not to lose your trusty Frisbee, take a deep breath, and step through the gates.

You begin walking towards the doors…but your vision goes darker and darker…until it’s like you’re swimming alone in an endless void. _What’s going on?_

…You wake up. Blinking the sleep from your eyes, you look around at your surroundings. From the looks of it, it’s a school classroom: many lights on the ceiling, four walls of faded paint, whiteboard with random scribbles, plus twenty too-small desks (one of which you were snoozing at). But there are things that don’t fit: the security camera that’s firmly installed in the corner, the solid iron plates where you’d expect a window to be, the strange screen above the door…

You can’t comprehend what happened. “What the hell’s going on here?”

One minute you were walking in the doors to Hope’s Peak Academy, and the next you’re…here? Is this a classroom in Hope’s Peak? Why don’t you remember coming in here, sitting down, and falling asleep? The clock near the door shows five minutes to eight. You walked in the gates about an hour before that. What the hell happened in that hour?

It was then that you noticed your bag near the door, Frisbee still sticking out. You get up and stretch, determined to figure out what happened, when suddenly your gaze fastens on the whiteboard, and you realize what you thought were random scribbles were actual words.

_The new semester has begun…_

You hoist your bag onto your shoulder, and head out of the classroom, slamming the large wooden door to vent your frustration. You desperately hope that this is a sick prank. An elaborate sick prank played out on new Ultimates. Yeah, that must be it. That has to be it.

The hallway doesn’t have any answers for you. No people waiting, barely containing their laughter as the new Ultimate stumbles out. Just a checkered tiled floor, weird gothic arches, and strange purple mood lighting. From what you remember your sister blabbering about, this definitely sounds like Hope’s Peak Academy, but why is nobody around? The classroom you just exited was classroom 1-B, and you peek into the next classroom over, but no one’s there either. Suddenly, you remember: introductions start at eight, the intercom said. You only have a couple minutes! You begin to run, praying that you’ll magically find your way, because you have no idea where anything is in this crazy school. As you run down a hallway awash in green, the first few doors, a giant red one and one with a cassette tape on it, are locked. A bit further on, the hallway opens up slightly, and you see an open door to your left. You race through it…

Fifteen faces look your way as you storm in. You look around, breathing hard, not recognizing anyone. No one speaks, and the silence grows more uncomfortable by the second.

Finally, a boy’s voice breaks the silence. “I think that is everyone.”

“How can you be so sure?” A girl’s voice, the speaker hidden in the crowd.

“I was told there would be sixteen of us, and this one is the sixteenth.”

You weren’t told any such thing, but at the moment that’s the least of your concerns. Everyone’s looking around, not saying anything…

One of the boys steps forward. You notice you are a few inches taller than him, but you definitely want to stay out of his way. His muscles threaten to bulge out of his green school uniform, his short black hair seems military-issue, and the dangerous scowl on his face and his red eyes complete the intimidating picture. However, in the next instant his scowl turns into a grin, and he snaps a clean salute at all of you.

“Hello, everyone, my name is Tadakatsu Yamamoto, and I am the Ultimate Military Cadet! Pleased to meet you all!” His voice echoes in the large room. A pause, and then Tadakatsu speaks again, his red eyes probing the room. “It would be best if you followed my example! No one would be in the dark, and then we can figure out what’s going on!”

A girl clears her throat, and the beads in her black hair clacking as she looks around, smiling at everyone. She wears green cargo pants and a simple brown tee shirt with the words _Just Build It!_ prominently displayed. “I’m Kaori Hatagami, and I suppose I’m the Ultimate Builder. Happy to meet you all!” Just like her smile, her tone is light and warm.

After Tadakatsu and Kaori break the ice, things go a bit more smoothly than before. The sixteen of you get into an impromptu circle, and the rest of you introduce yourselves.

The girl to Kaori’s right throws her blue top hat high into the air, unveiling a thick head of black hair as she did. Her laugh is quite loud, and probably closer to a cackle. She seems very proud of herself, standing confidently in her black skirt, playing with her magnificent cape. Her dark skin makes you question exactly where she was from, but she speaks perfect Japanese without any accent whatsoever. “Greetings, mortals! Toshi Kowalski’s the name, and magic’s my game! I’m the Ultimate Magician!”

The boy next to her wears a complete suit, but he’s pretty well built for a businessman. After he adjusts his orange glasses, patting his perfectly combed black hair and smirking, he introduces himself as Honzo Konda, the Ultimate Film Critic. You recognize his voice as the boy who spoke before.

Next is Yosuke Muramura, a very short boy who looks like he doesn’t get out much. His large pink sweatshirt is too large for him, and with his green shorts he looks a bit like a giant watermelon. He stammers out that he is the Ultimate Puppeteer, and then attempts to pull his faded red baseball cap over his bright green eyes.

Next to the shortest boy stands the tallest, wearing flashy, gold, sparkling sweatpants coupled with a white athletic shirt and black leather jacket. “The name’s Dio Uno, and don’t you dare laugh about me being the Ultimate Pinball Wizard!” You aren’t about to laugh about his title of all things considering his large blond afro exists, but you hold it as he glares around the room, like a predator looking for an opening to pounce.

The next girl’s larger-than-average breasts distract Dio immediately. She smiles brightly and waves, jumping up and down. Her pink school uniform struggles to hold together, showing off her tanned skin and threatening indecent exposure at every jostle. Pink seems to be her color, and you notice that even her eyes are pink, even covered in pink eye shadow. She brushes back her bright blonde hair with a hand and winks. “Everyone, hi! Hello boys! I’m Ichigo Hana, the Ultimate Pageant Girl!”

Next to her stands a quiet girl shorter than Yosuke. She speaks in quiet, halting Japanese, that her name is Tatiana Rostislavna Volkova, the Ultimate Ballet Dancer. Compared to the revealing school outfit, her black long sleeve blouse and ankle-length skirt seem almost humorously conservative. She looks almost sickly, pale with paler blonde hair. Only her blue eyes seem to glimmer with life, cloaked as they were in wings of blue eye shadow. _You only need one guess to know where she’s from_ , you think. You aren’t sure how many students Hope’s Peak Academy accepts from outside Japan, but there are definitely more than a few based on this crowd.

The boy next to her confirms this. Thin, tan, with blond hair and blue eyes, his accent is unmistakably Germanic. “Edwin Albrecht, Ultimate Doctor. Here to help.” He coughs into his mustard-colored scarf, his spectacles falling forward on his nose. Like Ichigo, he seems to prefer a certain color: white school uniform and a white doctor’s coat hanging from his shoulders. You are a little amazed it hasn’t fallen off yet.

You are next, and you nod to everyone and rattled off that you were Agro Tenma, Ultimate Luck. You think Dio and a rather sloppily dressed boy roll their eyes, but you ignore them. What the hell do they know?

The only redhead in the group stands to your right, nearly your height, and introduces himself as Tidus Hayabusa, Ultimate Pilot. His eyes, one blue and one strangely green, mystify a few of you. He seems very energetic, rocking forwards and backwards on his heels, never keeping still; yet his blue pilot’s uniform is kept in perfect condition without a crease or tear. You get the impression that he cares very greatly for it. He smiles widely at you, notices your Frisbee, and stares, spellbound. Huh.

A stocky girl a few inches shorter stood on the other side of him. You aren’t really sure how to describe her, this Aimi Annen who’s apparently the Ultimate DJ. Her short hair is dyed a myriad of colors, every color of the rainbow and then some. Her clothes are almost normal, blue skinny jeans, sneakers, and a small tie-dyed shirt that show the slightest bit of her belly, but it is her cat-like eyes that unsettle pretty much everyone. Aimi doesn’t say if it’s contacts, or something more sinister. They have to be just contacts…right?

The girl next to her is one of the few who didn’t blanch at Aimi’s strangeness. Her smirk never wavers, and her crown earrings twinkle as she calmly surveys the group. “Hey. I’m Aika. Got in here due to my acting skills.” She looks across the circle to Dio. “Harder than playing pinball with a giant pinball on my head, I’d say.” Dio scowls and takes a step forward, but something in her golden-brown eyes stops him from doing more than that. _Definitely someone to watch out for_ , you think. She does paint a pretty picture, though: wavy pink hair, low cut white top with different sleeve lengths, black thigh-high socks, strange black gloves, high heeled boots. She reminds you of an ex you never want to see again, and you snap out of it.

Miyuki Hiyama, the blue haired-Ultimate Skier, looks like a fashion disaster, although you will never tell that to her face considering she is a couple inches taller than you. Really, her white dress shirt and gray shorts and combat boots are fine…but she apparently tore apart a winter jacket and made it into a horrifying vest somewhere down the line. Her gray eyes wordlessly dare someone to make fun of it.

The last girl to introduce herself, a smaller girl wearing a standard schoolgirl uniform, takes a note from your simple approach. Nodding at the group, her untidy white hair bobs all over the place. “Please, call me Sylvia. I’m the Ultimate Linguist,” she says. Toshi clicks something at her, but Sylvia only gives her a slight smile, her hazel eyes reflecting confusion. “I’m sorry, but that’s not really a language, is it?”

Toshi looks astonished. “Damn, language girl is _good_.”

Last, there’s the sloppily dressed boy who maybe rolled his eyes at you earlier. The guy smiles a lazy smile, introducing himself as Kanzaki Kanesaka, the Ultimate Reporter. Thin with an even thinner face, with clumsily combed black hair and gray eyes, Kanzaki seems like a skeleton. Looking at his outfit, Honzo is positively horrified, and you think that maybe you were too hasty in judging Miyuki the fashion disaster of the group. Kanzaki’s gray dress shirt is buttoned wrong and only half tucked into his dress pants, he’s incorrectly tied his red tie, and his sneakers really tie the whole mess together. Undaunted by the stars, he still wears that lazy smile. “What’s up? Hey now, something on my face?”

With everyone introduced, the sixteen of you compare stories. You are all a bit shocked to realize that the same exact thing happened to all of you: passing out as you were walking into school, waking up a bit later with no idea how you got there with no one else around. So strange…

“So, we all woke up here, surrounded by iron plates for windows, and cameras all over…” Honzo says, “Do you think we are on a reality show of some sort?” He looks a little excited at the prospect.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Dio snaps. “We’ve obviously been kidnapped!” He points at one of the walls, a wall you haven’t properly looked at yet. “I mean, look at this damn door!”

One word escapes your mouth. “Whoa.”

You remember a much smaller doorway when you entered the Academy before, but in its place is something that defies reality, like it was brought in from another time entirely. Where a regular doorway should have been, there’s now only a…futuristic hatch: solid metal with blue flashing lights ringing the outside. With the many locks in place, it looks like it’d take a massive explosion to open, and though past Agro liked fireworks; no one here was the Ultimate Pyrotechnics Expert.

Out of the corner of your eye you spy Tidus trembling more than he had been. Suddenly, unable to control himself, he bursts forward, running up to the hatch and pounding on it, his fists making dull sounds in the quiet. “Hey! Hello? Anyone, anybody!” His voice cracks more than once. “We’re trapped in here!”

Tadakatsu’s calm voice reverberates throughout the hall. “It wouldn’t do to panic. Maybe this was some elaborate prank of some sort.”

His soothing has some effect at least: Yosuke looks out from under his cap, Tatiana smiles, while Kanzaki hums quietly under his breath.

Sylvia nods. “Right. It can’t be anything so horrible.”

As those words sink in, Tidus stills, and after a bit he rejoins the group, bright red. It seems like everyone’s calming down. You too want to believe Tadakatsu’s words. A prank…yeah, that could be it.

And then the familiar tolls of morning bells sound throughout the school, and a screen on one of the nearby walls flickers to life. At first there is only static, but soon a faint outline of _something_ appears. A voice, a lighthearted, whimsical voice, comes over the school’s intercom. As it begins to speak, you can’t help feeling a little uncomfortable.

“Mic check, mic check! Attention all new students...I would now like to hold an entrance ceremony…so please assemble in the gymnasium—immediately. Catch you later!”

It ends as quickly as it started. The screen goes black, and the sixteen of you are alone once more.

Kanzaki strolls away, whistling as he went. “You heard the boss. I’ll be at the gym.” He waves a hand as he heads out.

Kaori looks uncertainly at the rest of you, but soon follows. “We’ve gotta check this out, at least!” she says.

Others follow her in quick succession: Ichigo skips away, Aimi leaves silently, Dio swears and stalks out, and Honzo rubs his chin as he goes.

Tadakatsu comforts a shivering Yosuke. “Chin up, Puppeteer. This is just how they do things at Hope’s Peak. We’re going to be fine.”

Yosuke sniffles, adjusting his hat. “You mean it?”

Tadakatsu nods, clapping Yosuke on the shoulder, nearly bowling him over, and almost everyone else heads off with the departing pair, leaving just you and a still shell-shocked Tidus behind.

You wave a hand in front of his face. “Hey man, you doing all right?”

Tidus jumps a little, but he nods. “Thanks. I-I’m all right.” Taking a deep breath, his gaze moves to your Frisbee again. “I, uh, noticed you brought a Frisbee with you…you want to play catch later?” He seems unsure of himself, and something tells you this isn’t something he does very often. Sigma, alone in a corner, flashes through you mind.

You nod. “Sure. C’mon, we’re going to be late.”

Tidus keeps muttering under his breath as you walk, and you’re just about to ask him to either spit it out or stop when, just as the lighting above your head changes from green to yellow, a question blurts from his mouth. “You think we’re safe going to the gym?” His voice is still slightly shaky.

After a moment’s consideration, you nod, and the two of you round the corner, passing a blocked-off staircase. A plain wooden door is nearby, clearly marked to be the door to the gymnasium. Everyone else definitely beat you here. You turn the handle, take a deep breath, and step inside, Tidus nearly bumping into you in his haste.

Well, it isn’t quite the gymnasium proper, but a magnificent trophy room; different from all the other rooms so far. Gone are the cold, checkered tiles, and in its place are wood floorboards, a red carpet, and warm lighting. Hope’s Peak banners line the ceiling, flushed red with victory, and multiple display cases coat the walls, golden trophies of every shape and size packed inside. Not everyone has rushed past this sight: Miyuki stands staring wordlessly at one trophy in particular, and surprisingly Dio leans against a wall as well. He notices the two of you staring, but he doesn’t shout or anything. For some reason, he seems to be in a better mood than a few minutes ago.

“Yo, the others went inside,” he calls, waving you ahead through the opposite door. “Get going, already.”

Trophies have never interested you much, considering you aren’t the one in the family earning them. You look at Tidus, and you both shrug at the same time and move on. Maybe it’s just the light, or maybe your earlier answer really did help him, but he seems to be doing better. The last things you notice before you step through are another screen above the door and yet another security camera mounted firmly to the ceiling. How many of those damn things are there?

The gym is exactly what you expected of a place like Hope’s Peak Academy: large and clean, which were two words that did not describe your last school’s gym; pretty much the opposite. You and Tidus join the others standing around the group of chairs next to the stage. Nobody besides you Ultimates is here. Why the hell did that voice ask you to come here?

Ichigo speaks up first, hands on her hips. “I don’t get it. Why the no-show?”

Aimi sits in one of the chairs. “…Huh.”

Toshi plops down nearby, trying to examine Aimi closely while not looking into her eyes. “Do your eyes see through walls?”

Aimi does not respond.

Coughing lightly, Edwin begins to walk up the stairs as Dio and Miyuki, the last two, step into the gym.

“ _Hold on, don’t you dare go up there!_ _All of you, take a seat! I won’t begin until you’re beary comfortable!”_ There’s that whimsical voice again, but still nobody’s here. Edwin freezes, and backs down.

“Beary?” Aika mutters, her head in her gloved hands. Tatiana giggles.

Once all of you are seated, the lights dim, and a lone spotlight shines on the empty stage. And then, all of the sudden, it’s not empty anymore. A large teddy bear, split white and black down the middle, wearing a grin both cuddly and terrifying, jumps up onto the podium!

“Hiya!” the bear says, waving. “I’m Monokuma, your headmaster!”

You have no words at this moment, and no one else does either. How can any human, even an Ultimate, explain what just happened? A bear is _talking_. Not only is it talking, but also it says it’s their _headmaster_. Seriously. No joke.

_Seriously, what the hell is going on here?_

Tidus jumps up, knocking away his chair. “The bear…what?”

“Relax, classmates, this isn’t an actual talking bear,” Tadakatsu says, trying to put out a reasonable explanation. “In the military, there are similar technologies used all the time, speakers and such—“

The bear turns a little to the right, the black side of its body, the horrible side with the toothy grin and evil red marking, now fully on display; the cuddly, white side of its body discarded, unimportant. Ichigo screams.

“Another remark like that, Tadakatsu Yamamoto, and I won’t be very happy.”

Silence falls, and you now know this isn’t just a normal teddy bear.

A slight shift, and the bear is again both cuddly and terrifying, black and white. “As I was saying, I’m not a teddy bear or the military’s pet project! I’m _Monokuma_ , and your headmaster, and I would love it so beary much if you stop trying to shatter my dreams!”

More silence. The bear sniffs. “Thank you. Quiet in the audience is so much appreciated. Rise, bow, good morning! All of these things at once and none at all, because who knows what time it is with all those pesky windows blocking out the outside world…” The bear laughs, filling in the imposed silence. You are afraid, like everyone else, just what it would do if you speak up.

The laughter soon stops, and the bear hops from the podium to begin pacing the stage. “Now, to business: you guys are to carry out your lives together here within the academy walls!” A delicious pause, and then it speaks one word. “Indefinitely!”

Chaos.

Her hands balling into fists, Miyuki can’t control her outrage any longer. “You can’t keep us here, bear!”

Dio nods and stands up, grinning, his confidence back. “Yeah, we’ll just take you apart!”

Tatiana’s voice wavers up. “Is this really what the school wants?”

Yosuke stares down at the ground. “Our…whole lives…”

Everyone else looks shocked, and you are sure you did too. If the bear has its way, you are never going to see your mom or friends again…

The bear just chuckles from atop its throne. “Well,” it begins again, “that’s not quite true. I mean, there is a way to get out of here, a special system put in place thanks to the one and only Monokuma!”

There’s a way to get out of here after all? This you have to know. You’re sure you’re not the only one waiting with bated breath to hear the bear’s next words.

“ _Graduation!_ My system is built on order absolute, but if someone were to destroy that order, by a little thing called _murder_ , only they would be allowed to leave!”

Aika is the next to stand up amidst the gasps. “Hey, ‘Beary,’ what do you mean by murder?”

The bear giggles. “Anything your depraved little heads can come up with. The important thing is… _you can’t get out unless you kill someone_. Kill to your heart’s content!”

Everyone’s silent, grappling with his or her own disbelief, anger, or a combination of the two. You aren’t an exception. Killing someone’s seriously the only way…to get out?

Monokuma watches with glee. “Oh, and don’t bother attacking me. It won’t do you any good…and it will only lead to you being punished. Oh, but you won’t know what not to do until I’ve given you these, huh?” As if on cue, the lights come back on again, and the bear throws something at each of you. You catch your “present” without a problem, and look at it. It’s some kind of electronic tablet.

“This is your Student Handbook!” Monokuma calls out proudly. “It displays your name, and it won’t break! But more importantly, it has a list of the school rules. Make sure you read them carefully, or you’ll regret it: breaking the rules is not permitted under any circumstance!”

The bear sighs, suddenly sad. “I think that’s the end of our little ceremony…I’ll see you all again really beary soon…” It disappears without a trace or another word.

“Hey, Agro, check it out.”

You turn to Tidus, who’s glancing down at his Student Handbook, the screen aglow. He takes a deep breath, running a hand through his red hair. “The bear was right—there are rules to follow.”

You check your own handbook, and it’s easy to find what Tidus was talking about.

Under “School Rules” there are currently seven entries.

**_Rule One:_ ** _Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time._

**_Rule Two:_ ** _“Nighttime” is from 10 pm to 7 am. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution._

**_Rule Three:_ ** _Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly._

**_Rule Four:_ ** _With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope’s Peak Academy at your discretion._

**_Rule Five:_ ** _Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of the surveillance cameras._

**_Rule Six:_ ** _Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes “blackened” will graduate, unless they are discovered._

**_Rule Seven:_ ** _Additional school regulations may be added if necessary._

They are…terrible rules; like…shitty, insane rules.

Dio throws his student handbook across the gym, roaring in anger, sending it clattering across the polished floor. His relatively good mood in the trophy room is a thing of the past.

“If you were looking to break it, I am afraid you will always be disappointed,” Honzo says, straightening his glasses. “Do you remember what Monokuma said?”

When Dio snorts, his giant pinball of an afro wobbles. “I don’t give a fuck about what that bear said!”

“You’ll probably die, you know,” Aika butts in.

“Listen, I—“

“ _You_ listen,” Aika says, glaring as she cut Dio off. “There’s still sixteen of us, and sixteen heads have a better chance at finding an escape route than fifteen if you get yourself killed!”

“Then, we’ll start exploring, and meet up in the cafeteria in one hour,” Tadakatsu says, nodding.

The sixteen of you begin to splinter off into smaller groups and leave the gym. Tadakatsu, trailed by Yosuke, Honzo, and Kaori, all leave first. Dio still mutters to himself as he grabbed his handbook, but he leaves when Ichigo, Aika, and Sylvia do. Edwin, murmuring to Tatiana, who looks close to fainting, takes her by the arm and gently leads her out. You stay where you were for the moment. There’s only you, Kanzaki, Tidus, Toshi, Aimi, and Sylvia left in the gym. Most of them, it seems, have no intention of leaving yet. You see, out of the corner of your eye, that jittery Tidus is glancing at your Frisbee.

You have an hour. There are other groups exploring, and you promised Tidus you’d throw the Frisbee with him before. It might take your minds off the horror of your situation for a moment. On the other hand, exploring the school is important, too.

What do you do? Whatever you choose, it seems like it’s the beginning of your life at Hope’s Peak Academy…

 

**Chapter 0 End**

**_Sixteen Students Remain_ **

 

**_If you choose to explore the school with Tidus, go on to page 100._ **

_If you choose to throw your Frisbee with Tidus, turn to page 150._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Survivors
> 
> Agro Tenma, Ultimate Luck
> 
> Dio Uno, Ultimate Pinball Wizard
> 
> Toshi Kowalski, Ultimate Magician
> 
> Kanzaki Kanesaka, Ultimate Reporter
> 
> Aimi Annen, Ultimate DJ
> 
> Tadakatsu Yamamoto, Ultimate Military Cadet
> 
> Ichigo Hana, Ultimate Pageant Girl
> 
> Yosuke Muramura, Ultimate Puppeteer
> 
> Sylvia, Ultimate Linguist
> 
> Edwin Albrecht, Ultimate Doctor
> 
> Kaori Hatagami, Ultimate Builder
> 
> Tidus Hayabusa, Ultimate Pilot
> 
> Aika, Ultimate Improvisational Actress
> 
> Honzo Konda, Ultimate Film Critic
> 
> Tatiana Rostislavna Volkova, Ultimate Ballet Dancer
> 
> Miyuki Hiyama, Ultimate Skier


	4. Page 100

**Chapter 1: Accidents Happen**

You stand up from your chair, look at Tidus, and grin. “Come on, we’ve only got an hour. Let’s see what sorts of trouble we can get into.”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Tidus says, scrambling to his feet. He casts a sidelong glance at your Frisbee, but quickly follows. After all, you can always play catch later. While it might have done some good to take your minds off the situation, confronting reality will help more right now. The other four stay where they were, Kanzaki even yawning as the door shuts behind you.

After a quick glance around, it's obvious the trophy room doesn’t contain any secret passageways or hidden exits, and your search moves on.

“Where do you think we should start looking?” Tidus asks, testing the shutters blocking the nearby staircase. Unsurprisingly, they don’t budge.

You shrug. “Everywhere?”

“Sounds perfect to me,” Tidus says, flashing you a grin. “I need to keep moving around.” He chuckles weakly, running another hand through his red hair. “My parents thought I was, uh, a bit of a demon.”

You laugh too, your mom’s occasional fury easy to picture. “Same."

Bathrooms are nearby, but there’s nothing weird inside besides the fish tank, at least in the boy’s. Who knows what Monokuma will do if you try to open its companion.

“He’d probably blow us up,” Tidus says, shivering.

Just down the hallway, Edwin and Tatiana stand outside pink doors plastered with hearts. Edwin shakes his head and says something to her you can’t quite hear, and then clears his throat when he notices you.

“I thought the infirmary would help. It’s locked,” he says, shaking his head sadly.

You pull on the door handles, straining with all your might to no avail.

“Goddamn,” you say, breathing hard. Tatiana looks even paler than before, like a ghost. “You feeling all right?” you ask.

“Sorry, fine,” she says, nodding, her voice a whisper. “It was a bit much…for a moment.”

Edwin adjusts his glasses, and clears his throat again. “Tatiana, you should rest. Come with me to the cafeteria.” He offers his arm, and she slowly accepts it. Looks like he’s a gentlemanly type.

Tidus watches the pair go, and then kicks the pink doors ruefully. “For all the bear said about giving us free reign of the school, a lot of things are blocked off.”

The same thing has crossed your mind. “It’s definitely weird,” you say.

Dio and Ichigo were busy investigating the weird hatch in the entrance hall. “Find anything yet?” you ask.

An obviously frustrated Dio punches the metal hatch. “I’ve been trying to get this damn thing open, but no dice,” he says, letting out a breath. “What about you guys?”

“Nothing on our end besides a, uh, fish tank in the bathroom,” Tidus says, shaking his head.

At that, Dio rolls his eyes and stalks out, muttering that he’d be in the cafeteria.

Sitting on a random table, Ichigo smiles wide, pointing at a mailbox next to her with a manicured finger. “Aw, poor Dio…at least I found something interesting,” she says teasingly.

Stepping closer, you peer into the mailbox, smelling a faint hint of strawberries as you do. Is that her perfume? “Nothing's in here,” you say, sighing.

She taps her long pink fingernails on the plastic, unfazed. “Well, yeah, obviously, but this random mailbox is important, I know it is!”

“You waiting for fan mail?” Tidus asks.

Ichigo giggles, hops off the table, and struts off. “Oh, I’m waiting for a certain type of letter, so bye boys…” she says, not looking back.

Staring is inevitable. _That is definitely worthy of the Ultimate Pageant Girl…_

Tidus breaks you out of your reverie. “Doesn’t look like there’s much here,” he says, looking around, and he’s right. Unless the welcome bulletin boards somehow hold the key, nothing here helps your escape.

Taking one last look at that hatch reveals something new, right next to the distracting ring of blue lights. “Hey, what’s the panel?”

Tidus heads over, tapping it a few times. “Looks just like a normal, everyday keypad. Maybe we need some kind of, um, numbered code?” He smiles, sheepish. “Pretty useless at the moment.”

Maybe he’s onto something. Perhaps what you really need to look for is a code, and not some escape route? There’s been nothing like that so far, though.

A pair of bright orange doors is across from the entrance hall. “Hope’s Peak really couldn’t decide on a nice color scheme,” Tidus says, trying the handle. “No good,” he says, shaking his head, “locked again.”

Something set a small screen near the frame, and a thought begins to take shape. Caught up in a sudden wave of inspiration, after you get out your Student Handbook and hold it to the screen, a faint _click_ sounds. At Tidus’s push, the doors now swing open easily.

“Agro, you’re a genius!” he says, amazed.

You only shrug, but it’s nice for your random ideas to be right on the money for a change.

A large carpeted exercise room waits beyond. Treadmills line the far wall, and Hope’s Peak hosts rows and rows of various machines, suited for many diverse workouts, and large stacks of weights litter the room. Conveniently, there are more bathrooms, plus multiple drinking fountains. All in all, like the gym, this room’s much nicer than what you were subjected to at your old school.

“I bet Dio and Tadakatsu will be happy with this discovery,” you say, turning to Tidus. “Maybe I’ll try it out too, you wanna join me sometime?”

Uninterested in the room’s haul, Tidus shakes his head. “Nah, exercising’s never been my thing. Plus, I was kind of expecting, uh, secret treasure of some sort.”

“Well, if you ever want to, I’d be glad to help you out,” you say, and you mean it. Though a bit jumpy, Tidus seems like a good kid.

He smiles, but at that moment a cackling Monokuma materializes out of nowhere next to you, killing the good mood.

“Hello, you two! Enjoying the new exercise room? So much better than a boring old shop that sells pointless trinkets, am I right?” It sighs dreamily, lost in its deluded fantasies. “Just think, no more gift giving, and so many more possible weapons you could use to kill someone…”

“Get out of here,” you say, trying to calm your racing heart. How the hell does it do that, anyway?

Monokuma slumps, feigning sadness. “And this is what I get for caring about the health of today’s youth. You both are so ungrateful I won’t even tell you you’re almost late for your little meet-up in the cafeteria!”

You both share a look of alarm, but then Tidus’s brow furrows. “Wait a minute, it hasn’t been an hour yet.”

Monokuma cackles. “I forgot the first rule of the universe, bears can’t tell time! Have a _beary_ good search, best of luck, sayonara!” It disappears as quickly as it came, but its laugh rings in your ears. The exercise room’s lost a bit of its glamor now.

Through the cassette tape door to the Media Center, a large screen dominates the room and speakers dot the walls. Many rows of smaller screens take up the rest of the space, each spot paired with a slot to insert discs. You don’t have anything like that, though. Tidus sits in one of the many computer chairs, immediately beginning to spin, faster and faster, becoming an indistinct blur of red and blue. You can’t help laughing a bit at the spectacle, despite everything.

“Could you not do that? It is distracting.”

Turning towards the voice reveals Honzo sitting in another computer chair in the corner, adjusting a knob. It makes perfect sense. The Ultimate Film Critic would probably feel right at home in a room like this.

As ordered, Tidus slowly stops spinning, looking more than a little dejected. “Sorry.”

Satisfied, Honzo nods. “When I am trying to figure something out, distractions are something I cannot tolerate,” he says, glancing at his watch. “Nearly time, then. Such an interesting setup this all is.”

He stands, adjusting his suit coat. “Would you care to accompany me, or not? There are only a few minutes left.”

You glance at Tidus, who shrugs, and back to Honzo’s orange glasses. “We’ll pass.”

“Looks like we know to not invite on our fun misadventures!” Tidus says the second the door closes, pedaling backward.

“He’s got a point, though. We should probably cut this one short.”

Sighing and nodding, Tidus runs a hand through his hair as he stands. As you head out, you hope that the others have figured something out already, because it’s not looking good so far. If anything, this proves your so-called “talent” is bullshit, considering a secret passageway didn’t fall into your lap.

“I’ll miss you, spinning computer chair,” Tidus says, patting the door gently.

It takes a bit of time to find the cafeteria, but as it turns out there’s a passageway that leads to “Hotel Despair.” Through it lays an entirely new area, but there’s no time to explore now. A knife and fork display clearly marks your destination, and you hurry in, Tidus on your heels. The cafeteria boasts red tiles, with more chairs than you know what to do with plus a ton of tables: some are small and circular, some a bit bigger and square, and one’s a grand rectangle. Also, uncovered windows reveal a few trees and the school’s gray walls, but it looks like an enclosed space. Everyone else is already there, sitting at the largest table, staring at the two of you.

“Hurry the fuck up already,” Miyuki says, a growl in her voice.

You and Tidus scramble to grab the last two empty seats at the large table.

Tadakatsu claps his hands together. “With our stragglers here, we can begin!” His red eyes rove around. “Did anyone find a way out of here?”

“Well,” Toshi starts, “I was definitely gonna find a way out, but Toshi didn’t even get to leave the gym! Mr. Bear locked some of us in, and forced us to do… _Monokuma Tai Chi_ ,” she says, spitting out those words like a poison.

“That’s correct,” Sylvia says, nodding wearily. “We were there until only a few minutes ago, being tortured in the name of exercise and health.”

Her cat’s eyes bright and alert, Aimi seems to have survived her punishment better than the others, but crumpled Kanzaki looks miserable in his seat, absolutely exhausted. It is easy to feel somewhat satisfied at his fate.

“Looks like we made a good call to leave when we did, partner,” Tidus says in a conspiratorial whisper, and you nod. Monokuma Tai Chi definitely doesn’t sound like a fun way to spend an hour.

Edwin, Tatiana, Dio, Ichigo, and Honzo all report their findings to the group, things you are already aware of. None of them have discovered a way out yet.

“There’s a weird keypad near the hatch,” you say. “Maybe we’re supposed to look for a code to get out?”

Tadakatsu thinks for a moment. “It’s an idea,” he finally says. Weird, he should’ve had more to say than that. It’s a pretty good lead, anyway.

“We’ll have to, uh, keep our eyes peeled, I guess,” Tidus says. “There certainly wasn’t a code in the exercise room.”

“I opened all the doors that could open,” Miyuki calls out from the far end. “Didn’t see any exercise room, so where was it?”

“Those orange doors won’t open unless you hold your Student Handbook up to the small screen,” you say, jumping in to explain. “It’s a pretty sweet place, though.”

She flashes a tiny grin your way. “I’ll have to check that out.” Huh. Despite her weird fashion sense, smiling’s not a bad look for her.

“Oh yeah, Monokuma talked to Yosuke and me when we were investigating the dorms,” Kaori says. “We’ve got our own rooms, so that’s something, right?”

“Dio might appreciate Monokuma’s old-school choice in labels,” Aika says with a smirk.

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Dio says, taking the bait. “Pinball’s alive and well as long as I’m around!”

Yosuke puts a bundle of keys on the table with a mighty clatter. “T-There’s one for everyone,” he says, stammering.

The argument stops as everyone reaches in to grab his or her specific key. Pocketing your own, you wonder what your room looks like.

“Besides finding the laundry room, I too must admit defeat,” Tadakatsu says after a moment. “No one found a way out. We’re stuck here for the time being.”

 _Stuck_. The word sounds strange, imprisoning.

Bells fill the eerie silence, and Monokuma’s face fills every screen, its whimsical voice flowing out of the intercom. “ _The time is now 10:00 pm. “Nighttime” is now in effect. The cafeteria is now off-limits, and the door will be locked momentarily. I wish you all a good night. Sweet dreams…”_

Glancing up at the clock, it reads just like Monokuma said, but that doesn’t make sense…

“I thought it was ten in the morning!” you say.

“We all did,” Tadakatsu says, shocked. “We thought it was morning, when really…”

“That explains why I’m so beat,” Kanzaki says, head on the table.

“What…does that mean?” Yosuke asks, a tremor of fear in his voice.

Aika silently stands, winding her way through the tables and chairs to the door. “It means that we were asleep for a lot longer than we thought,” she says, pausing at the threshold for a brief moment. “Good night.”

After remembering Monokuma’s words, everyone hurries to follow her out. No one wants to find out what happens when they break a rule.

The group breaks off shortly thereafter, promising to meet for breakfast at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Nearly everyone heads to the hallway lit with blood red lights, anxious to find their own room and sleep. Maybe they think that they’ll wake up and realize this “School Life” is just a terrible, crazy nightmare. This is just…

“Hey, Tidus says, cutting into your thoughts, “I know you’re probably tired, but do you want to go throw the Frisbee around, just for a little bit?” Embarrassed, he looks away. “I don’t mean to pressure you or anything, partner.”

He’s right, you are tired; today’s been a whirlwind of strange events that’s left you exhausted. Sleep would be good, but you did tell Tidus you’d throw the Frisbee around with him.

What do you do?

 

**_If you decide to throw your Frisbee with Tidus before you go to bed, turn to page 117._ **

_If you decide to go straight to bed, turn to page 41._


	5. Page 117

You stretch, taking enough time to make your decision. “I’ve got enough energy for a few throws, sure.”

Heading to the gymnasium, you sneak a few glimpses at Tidus, grinning from ear to ear. Yep, he’s definitely a good kid.

The gym’s lights are still on for some reason, but the extravagant red carpet and chairs have vanished. Alarmingly, your bag is missing, though your Frisbee rests near the stage.

“You know, I forgot this earlier,” Tidus says, embarrassed, running another hand through his hair. “I heard Sylvia say that Monokuma moved everyone’s bags to their rooms. Your stuff should be, uh, safe and sound.”

“Guess we got lucky he forgot the Frisbee,” you say, breathing out. Why did Monokuma leave it behind? Did he know what you guys were going to do before you did it? Running to get the trusty disc takes your mind off those insane possibilities. The bear’s basically a stuffed animal, there’s no way it’s psychic or some bullshit like that. It probably just fell out of that broken front pocket.

Convinced, you lob a pass to Tidus, sending it flying in a nice, easy arc. He’s more preoccupied with watching it move through the air, but he manages to snag it all the same. At your raised eyebrow, he shrugs.

“Ever since I was little, I’ve always loved seeing things move through the air. I always wondered how they moved, and so I just kept watching.” You easily grab Tidus’s off-center throw.

“Suppose it just made sense for you to be a pilot, then,” you say, launching it back.

Eyes glued to the flying Frisbee, he grins. “That’s right.” _Is it just my imagination_ , you think, _or does that grin look a little off?_

Fumbling with the Frisbee, Tidus drops what you thought was an easy catch. His face now matching the color of his hair, he grabs it again, launching it back wildly in your direction. “So, you have any passions like mine?” he says.

“Besides getting captured by creepy bears to be in a crazy game of life and death, you mean?” you say, leaping to snatch the disc out of the air as it nearly rockets by.

“Well, that one’s obvious,” Tidus says, laughing. “Had you, uh, pegged for one of those types the second I saw you.”

Pausing, Frisbee in hand, you think. “Well, Sis was the brains of the family. If anything, I had a passion for cutting class,” you finally say. “My talent doesn’t mean anything, you know.”

Tidus doesn’t quite know what to say to that, and the silence grows longer. “Hey, so is your sister an Ultimate, too?” he says after a bit. He really is a good kid, grouping you with her like that.

“Yeah,” you say, throwing your Frisbee back as gently as possible, “she was the Ultimate—“

_“Playtime’s over, you two!”_

Cackling madly, Monokuma snatches the Frisbee out of midair, landing daintily on one foot. Thanks to its unnerving-as-shit grin, it looks like some kind of deranged circus animal.

“I thought I didn’t care, but I changed my mind! Why are you not trembling with despair in your beds? Or better yet, _why are you wasting time when you could kill someone_?”

“Nobody’s going to kill anyone,” Tidus says, his voice shaky.

Monokuma puts its free paw to its chin as it studies him. “Are you sure about that?” it says, its voice dangerously low, sending a chill down your spine.

“Anyway,” the bear says, its voice whimsical once more, “you guys having so much fun gave me a great idea! Toodles!” Suddenly, you’re alone.

Worse, you’re Frisbee-less. “That bastard!” That Frisbee has helped you through tough times, and to think Monokuma now had his grubby paws on it…

“We’ll think of something,” Tidus keeps saying as you walk back, over and over, like some mantra of hope.

The dorms are quiet; everyone’s probably asleep by this point. Exploring the passageway, looking for your names, it’s clear that it’ll be impossible to stumble into the wrong room by mistake. Every door got a person’s name, plus a weird, retro-ish sprite; old school, like Mr. Marcini’s Arcade. Your room’s the fifth one down on the right, between Aimi’s and Edwin’s. The sprite even looks like you a bit, if you squint. The key in your pocket easily fits in the lock, and the door swings open.

“You want to go find your room together?” you ask Tidus, still standing there.

“Thanks, but I’ll be all right,” he says, walking away, heading up a corridor with even more rooms. “Good night, Agro,” he calls back.

“Night,” you say, closing the door.

Your room combines a hideous teamwork of pink walls and blue floors, with more iron plates blocking the windows, and a security camera perched on one wall. “Enjoying the show, Monokuma?” you say, voice low, eyeing a small screen in one corner. The thought of that bastard bear’s face popping up every morning is enough to make you sick, but at least your bag is on your bed safe and sound.

Someone has stuck a piece of paper stuck to one of the pink walls. It only takes a few lines to be sure it’s from Monokuma.

_Room locks have been equipped with an anti-picking mechanism. The keys are a bit of a pain to make, so please don’t lose yours. Every room comes with a shower, but beware: water is shut off at night. Only the girls’ bathrooms can be locked. Lastly, I have prepared a modest gift for each of you: ladylike sewing kits for my ferocious female, and masculine toolkits for my murderous males. Go ahead and experiment! Don’t think, just feel! Let’s all have a killer time!_

“So much for a shower,” you say, crumpling up the paper and chucking it in the tiny trashcan nearby. With white tiles and plain walls, your bathroom is mercifully plain. True to Monokuma’s word, your bathroom door doesn’t lock, and no water comes when you spin the sink’s spigots.

Investigating your large desk back in the main room, you find the promised toolkit inside a drawer. It’s a useful thing to have around, so you leave it within easy reach, plastic seal unbroken. You never know when something like that’ll be handy, right? At least, who knows what’ll happen tomorrow.

Suddenly exhausted, you quickly change into pajamas and turn off the lights, crawling deep under the covers. Sleep still doesn’t come easy that night, despite how tired you feel. Each time you wake up you think you’re back in the apartment, and it takes a moment to remember where you truly are, to remind yourself that this “School Life” isn’t just some illusion. When bells drown out the silence and Monokuma’s face fills on the screen on your wall, shouting that it’s seven o’clock, you don’t hate it as much as you thought. It’s good to get out of your head. Remembering the group’s breakfast promise, you shuffle out of bed and to the shower, dragging new but identical clothes along. Making tons of the same clothes for everyone was probably Monokuma’s idea of a shitty joke.

The warm water feels nice, at least, and afterwards you step out dripping but feeling a bit more refreshed. Glancing at the clock reveals there are only minutes to spare. Tucking your room key in a pocket, stomach growling, you leave the room definitely ready to eat.

The smells are enough to make your mouth water. Kaori’s cooking up a storm, and others seem to be helping out too: Sylvia searches around for silverware; Dio carries a stack of plates while Tadakatsu picks up jugs of juice and milk; Miyuki takes over pancake-flipping duty from the struggling Yosuke. Before you can ask if anyone needs help, it’s all over, and people begin helping themselves. As you sit down, more than a few pancakes piled up on your plate, the stragglers burst in. While Kanzaki slouches to a chair in the corner, Tidus runs to grab the spot on your left.

Everyone digs in. For a moment, only the clinks of forks and knives can be heard, and you’re no exception, chewing away. This feast is leagues better than you could ever do alone.

“This is amazing!” Tadakatsu says in-between bites. “My compliments to the cook!”

Kaori’s face lights up. “Thanks, but Yosuke honestly did more than I did,” she says.

“I…I couldn’t flip the pancakes,” Yosuke says, mumbling.

Despite having some food in her mouth, Miyuki doesn’t stay quiet. “For a shrimp, you tried your best, considering those were some damn large pancakes,” she says, and an embarrassed Yosuke hides under his cap.

The mood’s much improved from last night, and it stays that way throughout the meal, with bits of conversation happening here and there. Not wanting to let anything go to waste, you focus on eating your fill. Once everyone eats his or her fill, Tadakatsu takes charge.

“Now, friends, to business!”

Toshi fits her top hat snugly on her head. “And what business would that be, wise and powerful leader?”           

“Isn’t it obvious?” Dio says, snorting. “We’ve gotta escape this joint!”

She pouts. “But I wanted to put on a magic show for everyone! Besides, we already looked for a way out and didn’t find anything yet!”

The two glare at each other, while Tadakatsu seems to be at a loss.

“Seriously,” Miyuki says, leaning back in her chair, “why the hell can’t we do both, again?”

“Splitting up our forces,” Tadakatsu says, suddenly thoughtful. His face creases into a smile, and his nods grow more powerful by the second. “A genius maneuver, Miyuki! We’ll divide up between those who want to help Dio and those who want to help Toshi! Any objections?”

“No objections, really,” Kanzaki says, finally speaking up as he rises to his feet, “but I don’t particularly want to do either of them.” With that, he raises a hand and walks out, never looking back. No one joins him.

“Man, what’s his deal?” Tidus whispers. You shrug.

Dio sets up at one table, Toshi at another, and the rest of you begin to split up. Yosuke and Aika sit with Toshi, while Tadakatsu and Miyuki join Dio. As Ichigo skips over to Toshi’s group, Tidus suddenly runs off saying he forgot something, not even stopping when you give him a shout. Weird, but there’s no time to worry about that now.

“All those who want to join Toshi’s Magnificent Troupe of Amazing Talents, step right this way!” Toshi calls, throwing her blue hat up in the air.

“Those of you who actually give a damn about us being trapped in here, come give us a hand,” Dio says. “We’ll need every bit of help we can get.”

You look from Dio to Toshi and back again. Which group do you want to spend at least the next several hours with?

 

            _If you join Dio’s group, turn to page 11._

_**If you join Toshi’s group, turn to page 12.**_


	6. Page 12

Toshi cheers as you head over to her table. “That a boy, Agro!”

Dio shrugs, and soon his team, consisting of himself, Tadakatsu, Miyuki, Edwin, Kaori, and Sylvia, leave the cafeteria, announcing that they’ll do their work in the gymnasium.

Toshi stares at everyone left, narrowing her eyes as she scrutinizes. “I didn’t know you were all so good at magic,” she says, puzzled.

“That’s the thing,” Aika says, drumming her hand on the table, “we’re really not.”

“So why join Toshi’s Incredible Club of Magical Amazingness if you aren’t all closeted magicians?” an incredulous Toshi says. “That’s, like, the most important requirement!”

“Well, besides Agro,” Honzo says, “we all have talents that can entertain a crowd.”

You roll your eyes, but one look around the table proves that he’s right. Ultimates Magician, DJ, Ballet Dancer, Improvisational Actress, Puppeteer, Pageant Girl, Film Critic, and…Luck. Talk about being the odd man out.

“A talent show,” Honzo continues, “would be a great way to combine our skills and take our minds off this horrible situation. At least, that is what I think.”

“Wonderful…thought,” Tatiana says, nodding.

Ichigo jumps to her feet. “Oh my god, I have to get ready!” she says, dashing off. To the Ultimate Pageant Girl, even running seems like a performance, like she knows she has an audience.

Someone else joins her. “I’ll be right back, I just need to get something!” Yosuke says, so excited he’s practically a new person.

Aika’s drumming stops. “I’ve never acted with a puppet before,” she says.

“I’ll help, some,” Aimi says, her cat eyes glittering, and it isn’t long before she heads for the Media Center to “prepare.”

The cafeteria soon bustles with activity.

Muttering, Honzo spreads some DVDs out on a table, and begins to pick through them. As he begins to toss some aside with a quick shake of his head, a wooden rabbit begins prancing across the pile, stopping to investigate and sniff some of the rejects.

“I don’t think Flopsy likes your opinions very much,” Aika says, smirking. “How will the Ultimate Film Critic win back the rabbit’s trust, after such heartbreak and betrayal?”

Giggling and smiling wide, Yosuke makes Flopsy paw at a cartoon with a giant, grinning carrot on the cover with a few precise movements, and Honzo sighs. You think about sighing as well, turning to watch Tatiana, now in a light blue leotard, begin to warm up to soft music in a corner. There’s no chance you can compete with such raw talent like that, so what the hell are you going to do here?

“I guess I’ll have to get used to sharing the stage with mere mortals,” Toshi says, looking a bit dejected.

“Well, at least you’re going to have an act,” you say. “Not much the Ultimate Luck can do, besides make a mean paper airplane.”

Toshi grins. “That’s a pretty cool skill, Luckster,” she says, funk forgotten in a flash. “Even if you get booed off the stage, you can always redeem yourself by being my assistant!”

“No thanks,” you say, shaking our head. “Don’t your type’s assistants always get cut in half?” There’ve been at least a few news stories of that happening, you think.

“Not always, sometimes they drown when the ol’ escape-from-a-locked-and-flooded-safe fails,” Toshi says. “Relax, just a thought, you know?” Looking happier with the idea than she did before, she prances off to prepare for her own set.

In the end, you decide that if all else fails, showing everyone how to make paper airplanes and doing some tricks won’t be totally awful. _At least Tidus’ll get a kick out of it_ , you think. Wondering where he went, you toss another plane, sending it flipping across the cafeteria.

Later, you all decide the order: you’ll go first; followed by Tatiana; Honzo; the trio of Yosuke, Flopsy, and Aika; Ichigo’s “Walk of Desire”; with Toshi’s “Magical Suite No. 5” being the grand finale. Everyone seems happy, and you’ve warmed up to the idea, too. You’ve seen them in their elements, and they’ve seen you claw out your own path with nothing but pieces of paper and determination. Both pride and respect shows clearly on their faces. At least, you like to think so.

Everyone in this small group has grown a bit closer, you realize, even in this short amount of time. This talent show is going to be a blast.

Bells sound throughout the school once more, cutting through everyone’s easy chatter and Monokuma’s face appears on all the screens. Looking up at the clock reveals that it’s only noon, so there’s no way you lost track of that much time. What does that bastard want now, though?

“Attention students,” the bear says, sipping some orange juice, “please gather in the gymnasium for a beary special announcement. Don’t dawdle!” With a cackle, Monokuma quickly ends its confusing little speech, leaving you no choice but to do as it says.

“I wonder what happened to Pompadour’s team,” Aika says, half to herself, as you run.

“Tada…Tadakatsu’s with him. Nothing bad could happen, right?” Yosuke says, earlier confidence lost.

Barging through the gymnasium doors, it’s a relief to see that everyone, including Tidus, who waves at you, and Kanzaki, slouching in a corner, are all there and still alive. Something clearly happened, though: bits and pieces of _something_ are strewn around the polished wooden floor, and a few people look singed.

Dio, brushing off his leather jacket, is shouting even as you head over. “You’re trying to kill us, you bastard!”

“I did warn you that violence against the headmaster was forbidden, didn’t I?” Monokuma says as it cackles, its stubby legs dangling off the edge of the stage.

“If this is a quibble about semantics,” Sylvia says, “Dio technically didn’t break any rules.” She pauses, searching for the right words. “Can a simple game truly be called violence? Using your old body, he just wanted to try and play catch with the wall.”

Monokuma considers, tapping its chin. “Well whatever, I’ll let it slide this time. But,” it says, leering at each and every one of you, its red eye flashing, “next time I won’t give you a warning. You’ll just be dead as a doornail, no questions asked.

“Is that _understood?_ ” There’s nothing else to do but agree with your insane teddy bear of a headmaster.

“Good!” Monokuma’s voice was whimsical once again. “A couple of announcements for you bastards, since you’re either pestering me to let you escape or ignoring my game by creating a talent show!” It’s spending all this effort, just for some stupid announcements? What the hell?

“First,” Monokuma begins, “welcome your very first trash collector: Tidus Hayabusa! He gets his very own key to the trash room!” Tidus just grins sheepishly as you raise an eyebrow. “I would tell you to make his job as easy and orderly as possible, but I know how you crazy kids get! _So messy_! Oh, there’s been another School Rule added, too!”

Sure enough, there is another rule: _The students must keep the trash key on them at all times. No losing it or putting it down somewhere!_

 _Pretty strange rule_ , you think.

“Is that seriously what you wanted to tell us?” Miyuki says, barging into the conversation.

“Second,” Monokuma says, continuing as if it hasn’t been interrupted, “I can’t help noticing that there’s still sixteen of you left! Everyone’s all buddy-buddy and having fun, and that’s no good in this neighborhood!”

Its cackle was long and piercing. “You don’t have a _motive_ to kill each other yet! That’s why everything’s been so slow and boring so far! I’m so sorry for forgetting that important detail!”

Tadakatsu steps forward, as if protecting the rest of you. “If you think a measly motive will magically turn one of us into a murderer, you’ve got another thing coming!”

“Unexpected alliteration from the cadet, color me surprised,” Aika says, smirking.

Monokuma hoists itself up. “You all keep saying that, over and over and over, but you have no idea what humans are capable of. Even I’m a bear, and I know that anybody can kill if you give ‘em a little push first.” Suddenly, it throws a bunch of papers into the air, cackling as they fall like diseased confetti downward. Like magic, each one lands gracefully in someone’s hand. “Feast your eyes on these babies, you bastards: _The Bombed-Out Motive_!”

Your paper’s pure white on one side, but after you turn it over it’s not a simple white piece of paper at all, but a _photo_ of…Miyuki and you. And it’s not just any type of photo, either…

This is impossible, whatever it is! It has to be a lie! You just met her yesterday; you’ve barely had enough time to learn her name, let alone…

Cries of shock erupt from nearly everyone. They must be seeing something close to what you’re seeing: clothes strewn about randomly, bodies touching, intertwined, and mouths…

Though you’ve had a few girlfriends in your time, what’s in your hand isn’t anything pleasant. It just makes you sick. Even when it’s a fake like this, someone spying when you’re doing something like that is…sick.

“What the hell is this, Monokuma?” Miyuki cries out, tearing her photo in half. “This photo’s a damn lie!”

Dio rips up his own photo. “This is crazy, totally bullshit,” he says.

Rage has even infected Tatiana, her pale face a perfect picture of fury. “How d-dare you lie, you…lying bear!” she says, her usually quiet voice a shout above the din.

The scene is, collectively, chaos.

Monokuma’s laugh is the loudest sound of all. “If one of you doesn’t kill someone within the next twenty-four hours,” it says, “I’ll upload every single one of these sexy photos to the Internet, where they’ll be seen by everyone. Your families would be so disappointed…”

Its gaze sweeps the room. “Imagine depraved high-schoolers doing the nasty and posting it online, sullying the name of Hope’s Peak Academy! Your fast tracks to success would be wiped out in an instant! People passing you on the street will call you mean names! With all the hurdles in your way already, do you really want one more thing to worry about? C’mon, just take the plunge! Don’t be shy! Anyone can be a killer!”

Tadakatsu opens his mouth to speak, but Monokuma doesn’t give him a chance. “Are they real scoops or juicy fakes? Who’s to say, really? More importantly…can you really take that chance?” it says, and then it finally, finally falls silent.

It’s quiet for some time, as everyone just stares at nothing, lost in his or her own thoughts. You feel helpless, like a tiny branch being carried away by a tidal wave.

“What kind of motive is this?” Tadakatsu finally says, shaking his head. “It’s ridiculous, thinking someone would kill over something so small.”

“T-That’s right,” Kaori says, nodding, dropping her photo to the floor, stomping on it for good measure. “Who cares about a few fake pictures?”

“Especially considering we are not even Hope’s Peak Academy students at the moment, we lose nothing by doing nothing,” Sylvia says, ripping up her own photo.

Monokuma deflates, its happy grin disappearing. “So, all those hours I spent preparing the motive, wasted,” it says. “You just have to ruin everything I work so hard on, don’t you…?”

The bear sighs. “Well, at least I’ll be able to post these online if nothing happens. If any of you change your mind, remember, you’ve got until noon tomorrow!”

After Monokuma vanishes, people start leaving silently, a few looking disturbed. Some rip up their photos, while most just throw theirs on the floor. You still feel weird, nauseous and angry, as you stare at the photo you, the unreal you, the naked you. Your fingers flex unconsciously.

Do you rip up the photo?

**_If you rip up the photo, turn to page 93._ **

_If you instead throw the photo on the ground, turn to page 39._


	7. Page 93

You tear up the photo, again and again and again. When the bits of paper fall to the polished wood floor below, you feel a strange sense of relief, a relief that overpowers the anger and violation. It’s gone. It can’t hurt you anymore.

“All right there, Agro?” Tidus says, concerned, trying and failing to smile. His photo tumbles from his trembling hand. “It’s just a fake, creepy photo, that’s all.” Maybe he’s trying to convince himself as well as you. Whatever it is, it’s time to leave.

As you head out, Tidus matching you step for step, you catch a glimpse of his photo, and see flashes of red and blonde hair. It’d be a good idea to warn him, right? Who knows what might happen now, right?

“Hey,” Tidus says, cutting off your thoughts, “I’ve got some good news.”

“What is it?” you say, trying to control your voice.

“I think I’ll get a better reaction if I just show you,” he says, really smiling now. “Come on, it’s in my room.”

The journey to the dorms is uneventful. No one was out walking or talking or whatever, but you do hear a strange, faint banging coming from the cafeteria. Humming a tune to himself, Tidus is obviously too excited about the surprise to notice it, and you put it out of your mind as well. Walking faster and faster the closer you get, he takes you down a startlingly white hallway you never checked, past a sickly green door to the Trash Room, and finally stops at the next door over. It looks just like your own, minus the nameplate and a pixelated picture of Tidus.

“So, that stupid bear stuck you with the room closest to the Trash Room?” you say, wondering what’s inside. “That’s some bad luck, man. Doesn’t it stink?”

“It’s not as bad as you think,” he says, managing to unlock his door after fumbling with his key for a few seconds.

His room is practically identical to yours, down to the terrible pink walls and blue floor combo. The only noticeable difference is the Frisbee sitting on the table.

Wait a minute…

“I told you I’d think of something, didn’t I?” Tidus says, smiling wider as you walk over to the table in a bit of a trance. “All it took was a little conversation with Monokuma, and the bear said I had to be the janitor for the week.”

He shrugs. “No big deal, really. All pilots-in-training have secondary flight attendant lessons.”

_Do they?_ you think, turning your trusty disc over in your hand, the balance feeling just as it used to. It’s silly, but you feel like a small hole’s been patched up, like a small part of yourself came back.

“Dude…” you turn to Tidus, your friend almost shaking with excitement waiting for your reaction, “this is amazing. I don’t know how to thank you.”

Tidus grins, running a hand through his hair. “Aw, shucks, don’t mention it, Agro. It was my fault that it got taken in the first place.”

You shake your head. No freakin’ way. It’s been the bastard bear’s fault all along. “Tidus, I’m serious,” you say, wracking your brain, trying and failing to come up with a suitable reward. In that case, there’s only one thing to do.

“Anything you want, I’ll help you out. That’s a promise, friend to friend,” you say, holding out a hand to seal the deal. “That a deal, partner?”

Tidus freezes, mouth open, and a strange look twists his face, one that quickly slides off. “Friend to friend…I like the sound of that,” he says after a bit, his gleeful grin matching your own.

Frisbee in tow, you head off alone soon afterwards, Tidus being too busy preparing for his new duties to hang out longer. Determined not to let Monokuma take any of your stuff again, you drop off your precious cargo in your room. After that, there’s not much else to do for the moment. The talent show isn’t for a few hours yet.

“If the thing’s still happening at all,” you say. “Everyone seems to be keeping to themselves ‘cause of those shitty pictures.”

To distract yourself, you wander through the dorms, curious to find out where everyone’s rooming. Tidus’s room, of course, is right next to the trash room, and Sylvia, Honzo, Dio, and Toshi’s rooms are along the far wall. At one end of the blood-red corridor, looking towards the common area, you can see all the rest of the rooms: Edwin, you, Aimi, Ichigo, Tadakatsu, and Kaori on the left, with Yosuke, Aika, Tatiana, Kanzaki, and Miyuki on the right.

_What a bunch we are_ , you think, and then you hear another loud bang ring out down the hall, just like before. What the hell’s going on in the cafeteria?

Now’s probably a good time to check it out, you decide, but you stop in your tracks when you remember your toolkit. After what happened in the gymnasium, the source of the clamor could be dangerous. You pause, hand on your door handle, trying to remember what Monokuma included inside.

Pieces of a torn photo float on the surface of your memory, unbidden.

           

**_If you grab a tool for protection, turn to page 4._ **

_If you choose to go to the cafeteria without a tool, turn to page 88._


	8. Page 4

You easily rip through the plastic seal—Monokuma wanted you to get at these things. You carefully go over your choices, but soon decide on the hammer. You place it in your pocket, bright orange handle sticking slightly out of your pocket, but your shirt covers that evidence. It’s awkward walking around with a hammer, but you’ll get used to it.

“Maybe I’ll get lucky, and it’s nothing,” you say, your heart beating a bit faster as you slink quietly through the corridor, edging closer to the strange banging. Your heart in your throat, your right hand near your pocket, you walk into the cafeteria, and see a…strange sight.

Kaori sits at one of the smaller tables, her own hammer in hand, nailing a nail into a small wooden block in front of her, every blow a loud bang. She’s currently so preoccupied that she doesn’t hear you sigh in relief. When the nail is almost all the way in, she deftly flips the hammer around in her hand and pries it out with a smooth, practiced motion. Quiet reigns in the cafeteria for a brief moment, and you decide to speak when you have the chance.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

She jumps, eyes skyrocketing wide open, beads in her hair clacking, but she soon relaxes. “Oh, geez, sorry Agro. I make a lot of noise, huh?” she says, giggling.

You nod. “Yeah, with all the banging, I was worried that…something’d gone down.”

Her face falls. “Y-Yeah, I can see why you would think that. It’s been a pretty crazy bit of time, hasn’t it?”

“That’s one way to put it,” you say, trying to shake that damn photo out of your mind.

Still a bit crestfallen, she makes an effort to smile. “Sorry I worried you,” she says, pointing to a nearby seat. “You wanna sit down for a little bit? Me and the old wood block are well acquainted by now, but I don’t know much about you.”

There’s nothing better to do, so you slide into it.

“Thanks,” she says, her smile brightening as she sets the hammer down. “I think I need some human company.”

The cafeteria feels pretty empty with just you two here. “Everyone else hiding in their room afraid to come out?”

“Nope,” she says, shaking her head, “you’ve just been looking in the wrong places. Toshi just told me about the talent show, but she didn’t stay.” She pauses, looking at you quizzically. “Hey wait, Agro, aren’t you the first act?”

“I hope you like paper airplanes,” you say, and she laughs, not unkindly.

It’s a good time to change the subject, and luckily there’s few ways to do that. “Kaori, what’s up with that block? And how did you get that hammer?” you say, pulling out your hammer from your pocket. “Only the guys were given one, right?”

“Oh, Edwin gave me the hammer. He said I could keep it if we swapped, so he got my sewing needle,” she says, grinning. Edwin, mustard-yellow scarf comfortably wrapped around his neck, definitely seems like the knitting-in-an-armchair-by-a-large-fire type.

Kaori looks away, uncomfortable, as if working up the courage to answer your other question. “Hammering in nails has just been my way of dealing with stressful situations,” she finally says, looking at you to gauge your reaction, but you weren’t about to laugh or anything. “I know it sounds silly and it’s _really_ loud, but it calms me down,” she continues to say, sighing. “I definitely needed to calm down after _that_ happened.”

Again, your mind snaps back to the gymnasium floor littered with photos, some shredded like yours was, Monokuma’s ultimatum echoing in your ears. “Yeah, I think we all need that, honestly,” you say, shaking your head. “It’s just insane. That’s all I can tell myself, you know?”

Kaori nods. “I could hardly sleep last night,” she says, taking a deep, calming breath. “I just wonder what my parents, brothers and sisters are doing, if they’re trying to rescue me. They’re not the…nicest, but…they’re family.”

It’s hard not to think about your mom. If she knew where you were, she would move entire mountains in order to save you. “Yeah…I know what you mean.”

Sniffling, Kaori gives your hand a slight squeeze as she gets up, letting go and looking away in an instant. “It’s gonna be fine, Agro, ‘cause we’ll get out of here before anything bad happens, I just know it.”

She gathers her things. “Thanks for the talk. I needed it,” she says, and heads off before you can say anything else, the sound of her beads clacking away fading into silence.

You stay there for quite some time, enjoying the quiet, hoping that Kaori’s right, and this isn’t just the calm before the storm, but it’s a bit hard to share her optimism.

Aimi wanders in near four in the afternoon, ignoring your wave as she heads straight to the kitchen. You hear cabinets opening and closing, but soon she wanders back carrying nothing that you can see.

“Find everything you were looking for?” you ask, curious. Aimi is the quietest, the most mysterious.

She sits down at another table, behind you. You don’t turn around; if she doesn’t want to talk, you won’t force her.

“…Ready?”

That’s a surprise. “Y-yeah,” you stammer out.

She pauses, as if considering your answer. “It’s a good distraction.”

That is the most talkative Aimi’s been. You tap the table, thinking. “Even with what Monokuma said?”

She chuckles, but it’s a low, mirthless chuckle, and she doesn’t answer your question. However, now that you have her talking a little bit, you can’t help but be a little curious…

“So,” you say, “Aimi, you’re the Ultimate DJ. I would’ve thought that the Ultimate DJ would be—“

“Male?”

You wince, expecting a whirlwind of anger, but none comes.

“Change is important,” she says, shrugging. “Forcing change is important.”

With someone as unreadable as her, the only choice is to backpedal, fast. “I think it’s great, Aimi, really. Just unexpected.”

She starts walking away before you realize what’s happening, and she’s almost out of sight before she turns back around, her cat’s eyes piercing your own.

“Good,” she says, and then she’s gone.

Your stomach begins to grumble, and you head to the kitchen, hoping to find something quick. Your investigation reveals many bland cereals, and you grab a random box and fill a bowl to the brim. You begin to chow down, wondering if anyone else will join you. They can’t stave off hunger forever.

When you shovel the last bite into your mouth, Tidus hurriedly walks in, a strange expression on his face. You wave him over.

“How was playing janitor?”

“Oh, fine, you know,” he says, sighing, slumping into a nearby seat. “Actually, not fine. Something’s been bugging me for a bit.”

At that moment, as you open your mouth to say something, a frantic-looking Toshi runs in. “Thank Mazabu, I found you! Come on, the rehearsal’s starting!” She tugs you up from your seat and despite your resistance; in a flash you are out the door, shouting to Tidus that you’ll be free to help him later.

Toshi rockets you through the hallways, barging into the gymnasium in record time. You quickly notice that she managed to gather every other act there already.

Near a portable CD Player, Aimi sits on one corner of the stage, headphones on and a microphone in one hand. Toshi nods at her, pushing you forward. On command, Aimi presses a button, and a strange mixture of different rock songs pours out through the speakers. Not bad, not bad at all. It’s like the Ultimate DJ could tell what music would fit you the second she pierced you with those weird cat’s eyes.

To scattered cheers, you climb the stairs. Honestly, it feels a bit weird to stand up here. Aimi smiles at you, clapping exactly once before she becomes carefully controlled and neutral once. _Here we go_ , you think, taking a deep breath.

There are more cheers than you expected when you finish; Yosuke even makes Flopsy clap for you, which in your opinion requires more skill than your entire act. The rehearsal proceeds smoothly, and everyone’s act is, of course, perfect: Tatiana’s routine is without a misstep; Honzo short, simplistic cartoon delivers on the laughs; Aika’s running commentary on the life in the day of Flopsy is surprisingly touching; Ichigo’s strut captivates you just like it did before, so much so you nearly start drooling; and an assistant-less Toshi amazes by guessing a multitude of cards, although you all had to stop her from trying to conjure a fireball to honor Mazabu.

Soon before the real deal, the rest begin to stream in. You’re surprised to even see Dio and Kanzaki stroll in. At seven, all sixteen of you are in the gymnasium.

“We don’t have to stay, right?” Kanzaki says, grinning lopsidedly. You dislike the way his gaze lingers on you.

“No, anyone is free to leave when they so choose,” Honzo says, his face a stiff mask of displeasure as he addresses Kanzaki, “but I assure you, we have a stellar lineup in store.”

“We’ve all, like, worked really hard today!” Ichigo interjects, winking. “Trust me, you don’t want to miss _my_ performance.”

Tadakatsu has a contented smile on his face. “Whenever you guys are ready,” he says.

You look at Tidus, trying to wordlessly communicate that you’ll talk after your act. By the way he perks up, he seems to get the message. Just like that, the atmosphere is pleasant, just as it was at breakfast this morning.

“Take it away, Mic-Master Aimi!” Toshi calls, and the gym lights go out on cue.

“Agro, that was amazing!” Tidus says to you as you leave the stage to a hearty round of applause at the end of your act. “The way those paper airplanes flipped through the air…” His expression is one of pure bliss.

“I thought you’d get a kick out of it,” you say, grinning, as Tatiana ascends the stairs to more cheers and applause. “Want to head out and talk, just for a bit?” you say, realizing the gym might not be the best place for conversation. “I don’t like how we ended things in the cafeteria earlier.”

Tidus nods, looking relieved. “I was about to ask the same thing.”

As you head out, you aren’t the first ones to leave the show, you realize. From what you can tell, Kanzaki and Sylvia have already left. The two of you wander the halls for a moment, eventually stopping to talk by the shuttered staircase. You lean up against it, watching Tidus.

He runs a hand through his hair, looking unsure of himself. “Hey man, can you help me work out?”

You certainly weren’t expecting that question, but you nod without hesitation. A promise was a promise. “Sure, but why now? I thought you didn’t like exercise,” you say, crossing your arms.

“It just seems like a good idea,” Tidus says, shrugging.

_There’s got to be more to this_ , you think as you head to the exercise room, Tidus in tow. A quick scan of your Student Handbook, and you’re in. It’s empty, as you expected, considering nearly everyone’s busy watching the talent show. There are many machines here, and you stop to think about the best machine to start with. What would a beginner like Tidus like more? It’s best to just ask him.

“You want to work on your legs or arms first?”

He pauses, humming in thought. “Legs, I think.”

You slide into the nearby Leg Press near one wall, adjusting the weight to a comfortable level. Demonstrating proper technique for Tidus is a good starting point, you suppose, and you begin pushing out with your legs, holding it, and slowly bringing it back, keeping control the whole time. He nods, grasping the basic context quickly.

“You want to try?” you ask, after a few repetitions.

“Sure, I think I got it,” Tidus says, taking your spot. “What should I set the weight to?

“Whatever’s comfortable,” you say. Suddenly, you feel a certain need take over. “I’ll be right back!” you call out, rushing to the bathroom. Tidus nods, carefully setting the weight with a small smile on his face.

A few minutes later, you’re quickly washing your hands in the sink, eager to get back out and help. Your eyes lock onto the Leg Press the second you open the bathroom door, and the scene makes your blood freeze. An enraged Miyuki punches Tidus in the face, knocking him out cold. You are about to say something to stop her, anything, but then she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a kitchen knife, the weapon glinting dangerously.

Everything changes in that instant.

You reach into your own pocket, and bring out your hammer. Not wanting to alert the armed Miyuki to your presence, you walk as quickly and quietly as you can forward. _I need to save him!_ you think, your hand tightening around the bright orange handle.

Miyuki’s hand raises, and the knife glints again, before beginning to stab downward…

Without thinking, you close in, swinging your hammer while trying not to get too close to the knife. Your desperate plan is to hit the knife away. Miyuki sees you out of the corner of her eye, she turns her head instinctively toward you slightly, her mouth opening, surprised.

You feel like you’re in a dream…

_Anything you want, I’ll help you out..._

Your hammer misses its target, instead smashing Miyuki in the temple with a mighty blow. The sound it makes is unforgettable; it burns into your memory.

_That’s a promise, friend to friend…_

The Ultimate Skier’s blood flies through the air as she falls, crumpling to the carpet in a heap beside a stack of weights. Some splatters on your shirt. Her knife falls to the floor.

Breathing heavily, eyes wide, you stare at her, bloody hammer still in your hand. “Oh god,” you whisper. “Fuck.”

Blood trickles slowly out of her wound; her gray eyes glassy and unseeing, Miyuki stares up at you but sees nothing. Tidus, mostly unharmed, sits slumped at the Leg Press, unaware of the events that just transpired.

_Friend to friend…I like the sound of that…_

You press a shaky hand to Miyuki’s throat, and you choke back a sob when you don’t feel a pulse. _She’s dead_ , you think, trembling. _I killed her._

_Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes “blackened” will graduate, unless they are discovered._ With Miyuki’s murder, you are this blackened. You feel nauseous and want to throw up, but realize there is little time to spare. You can’t be discovered. If you want to go home, you can’t be discovered.

_Tidus can’t see this_ , you think. _I’ve got to get him out of here. He won’t be out for much longer._

“This is…insane…”

Blood is also a problem: bloody hammer, bloody shirt.

Time is of the essence.

 

_If you focus on getting Tidus out of the exercise room, turn to page 66._

_If you focus on cleaning up the blood, turn to page 99._

**_???_ **


	9. Page ???

You stare at Tidus, still unconscious, and then look at your hammer, threatening to drip blood on the carpet. You shudder. You can’t decide what to do. Miyuki’s cold gray eyes are still staring straight at you, you imagine. You bend down and gently close her eyes with a shaking hand, hoping that will help spur you to action. You still feel her lingering there, screaming furiously into the silence of your mind.

_Youdidthisyoudidthisyoudidthisyoudidthis_ —

You spring up in horror, dropping your bloody hammer, wanting to run but knowing that’s impossible. Looking around the room desperately, you notice the many stacks of weights littering the room, and your panicking mind seizes on an idea.

_I need to cover her up_ , you think, moving one of the stacks along the ground with great effort. _Maybe then she’ll be quiet_. Filled with a level of adrenaline with have never known, moving the stacks of weights is at once the work of minutes and the most exhausting work you have ever experienced. You are careful not to touch the body, boxing it in on all sides with the large stacks of weights, and then sealing the top with a few larger weights.

Miyuki’s “tomb” is complete.

There is an odd pile of weights near the Leg Press now, but at least you can’t see her anymore…and that is enough for now. Miyuki’s spectral voice subsides, and you breathe deeply. You’re exhausted, but you’re beginning to calm down slightly.

You see your bloody hammer on the floor and hurriedly snatch it up, swearing under your breath. Blood gets on your hands…or was it there before? With a hurried glance at Tidus, who luckily has not opened his eyes yet, you head to the bathroom again, being careful to not get any blood on the door handle. There, you take off your bloody dress shirt, and bunch it into a ball near the sink. Your first priority is your hammer, and you spend minutes running it under the warm water, scrubbing furiously with paper towels to get every last visible trace of blood off. Eventually, you are satisfied, and dry off the now spotless hammer. Bloody, wet paper towels are in the trash, but you can’t do anything about that. Your dress shirt obviously can’t be seen in its current state, and you don’t feel safe carrying it in the halls, so you decide to leave it hanging in the far stall for now. You tuck your hammer back into your pocket, trying to keep it hidden as much as possible. Shining with sweat, you leave the bathroom again.

Tidus is finally stirring as you approach the Leg Press, and he soon opens his eyes, groaning faintly. He squints up at you, a new black eye blooming on his face. “Agro? How long have I been out?”

You shrug, trying to remain calm and keep your voice steady. “I’m in the dark, man. I just got out of the bathroom myself.”

He puts a hand to his head, wincing as he touches his black eye. “God, this hurts.”

You hold out a hand to help him up. “You want to tell me what the hell happened?” you ask.

Tidus nods, taking your hand, and you pull him to his feet. You are determined to keep Tidus’s back to the moved weight stacks, to the bloodstained carpet, to Miyuki’s body.

“You want to talk about it somewhere else?” you ask, and to your relief he nods. Quickly, the two of you walk out the door, and it’s a relief when it swings shut behind you. Miyuki’s body is still hidden for now. Amazingly, Tidus, still a bit dazed, doesn’t realize anything is amiss.

_Maybe I really am the Ultimate Luck_ , you think to yourself as Tidus suggests you both head to the cafeteria. When you get there, you set him down in a chair near the kitchen, and promptly head to the freezer. You quickly find an ice pack, and Tidus sighs in relief when he applies your find to his injured eye.

His green eye peers out at you. “Thanks, Agro. I really appreciate all this.”

You try to smile. “Not a problem, man. It’s just a black eye, and I’ve had my share of them in the past.” You lean back in your chair. “Edwin’s not needed this time.”

Tidus tries to laugh, but mostly winces from the pain. You glance at the clock: it’s 8:30 in the evening. _When did_ it _happen?_

“Hey,” Tidus says, looking at you strangely, “what happened to your shirt?”

You laugh, beginning to break out in a cold sweat. “Oh, I don’t usually wear that type of shirt when I work out. I’ll go back for it later,” you say, deflecting. “However, _I’m_ the one asking the questions here.” Tidus holds his free hand up in surrender.

Surrendering, he sighs. “You know how I suddenly wanted to work out just out of the blue?” You nod, and he continues. “I thought there might be a chance someone might attack us, so I wanted to be ready.” He suddenly looks alarmed. “Not ‘ready’ to kill them or anything! Just to fight them off or be strong enough to run away!”

You nod and smile, appearing to understand. Tidus, bolstered by your acceptance, continues, shifting his ice pack slightly. “Well, I was right,” he says grimly, “Someone did come after me, right when you went into the bathroom.” He chuckles softly. “I’m lucky they only gave me a black eye. They seemed about ready to _kill_ me, as crazy as it sounds.” You remember Miyuki’s knife, glinting as it descended towards Tidus’s defenseless chest.

_It’s definitely not crazy, man,_ you think. _It’s not…crazy…at all…_

“Who attacked you?” you ask after a slight pause.

Tidus shakes his head. “I…I’d rather not say.” He grins sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. “Sorry, I’m just embarrassed, that’s all.” He stands up. “Besides, I think they scared themselves. I don’t think I’ll have to worry about them again.” He pauses. “I’ll talk to them tomorrow, and not alone, either.”

You also stand, trying not to dwell on the impossibility of his last sentence. “Well, as long as you’re sure,” you say, trying to stay casual, but it’s a relief that Tidus is so close-mouthed. At this rate, the others won’t discover anything for quite some time.

Tidus suddenly laughs to himself after a while, startling you. “That doesn’t mean I want to stop working out, though!” He points at his ice pack. “This black eye is proof that I’ve got a long way to go.”

“Tomorrow, then?” you ask, trying not to think about tomorrow.

“Sure,” Tidus says, beginning to walk off, “I’ll rest up tonight.” His pace picks up, and he sprints out the door, still holding his ice pack gingerly. “Good night, Agro!”

_Good night, Tidus_ , you think as you watch him go. You glance again at the clock, and are shocked to find out that an entire hour has passed. The talent show will be over soon, you realize that it would help if the others saw you again, at least for a little bit. Heart pounding, you head back to the gymnasium, wondering how you would react if anyone noticed anything strange…

Luckily, it’s still dark when you re-enter. Toshi is nearing the end of her act. She swoops her top hat off her head, swinging it at her audience, and purple plastic balls fly out. Everyone scrambles to catch one, and you do too, in order to blend in. “You’ve all been a great audience!” Toshi calls out, breathing hard but smiling wide. She flips her top hat back onto her head with a swift, practiced motion. “Toshi’s Magnificent Troupe of Mystique thanks you for your support, and we’ll be here for the foreseeable future!”

To loud applause, the lights come back on.

Tadakatsu claps you on the back. “Nice job out there, Agro,” he says, grinning. “I found your simple act entertaining, and it taught me something!”

“Never underestimate the power of knowledge,” Aika mutters to you as she passes, a smirk on her face. You force a smile as well.

Keeping a close eye on Ichigo skipping away in front of them, Dio walks with Yosuke, talking more excitedly than you’ve ever seen him, saying, “I’m telling you, the way you were moving that bunny around was just frickin’ great, man. And coming from the Ultimate Pinball Wizard, that’s high praise!”

Edwin walks by with Tatiana in tow, complimenting her in his accented Japanese. “Your performance was…excellent, art in motion. Where did you study before Hope’s Peak?” Tatiana’s face reddened with every word he uttered, and she couldn’t seem to stop smiling.

Kaori grins at you, and mouths, “Nice job!” Aimi nods at you, and you swear she smiles again, just a little bit…

As you all begin to file out, Honzo looks a little disappointed in the lack of attention he’s getting, but Toshi whacks him on the back, similar to what Tadakatsu did to you…only a lot harder.

“Cheer up, my boy!” she says as he sputters. “Toshi’s Wily Wizarding Group doesn’t hog credit! We all did great!”

Honzo corrects his orange glasses, muttering, “I am not ‘your boy…’”

You hold your breath as the crowd passes the exercise room, but no one goes in; no one calls out that they need a late night workout session to blow off some steam. The screens in the long hallway light up, and Monokuma announces to everyone that it’s ten o’clock, and nighttime has begun.

“Breakfast tomorrow, same time?” Tadakatsu calls out a few minutes later, his hand on his door handle.

“Sounds good to me!” Ichigo calls out a couple doors down from you, waving enthusiastically. “Nighty night!” You all head into your separate rooms, and the moment you shut your door you lie down on your bed, utterly exhausted. Lying, acting normal, has never been so difficult. You toss the purple ball up in the air; you’d held onto yours when a few people left their prizes back on the gymnasium floor, Toshi sweeping them into her seemingly bottomless top hat.

While everyone else gets ready for bed, you keep tossing the purple ball, catching it easily. It was a light ball, but not without a bit of weight behind it. You remember your bloody dress shirt hanging in the exercise room’s bathroom, and think of how you were going to dispose of it. You could always hide it in your room, but what if everyone combed through the dorms? You couldn’t take that chance—you knew you had to dispose of the shirt permanently. Its color tied you irrevocably to the crime.

And then it hit you: _the trash room_. Tidus had mentioned an incinerator earlier today.

_As long as I get the shirt in the incinerator, I’m home free_ , you think to yourself, hope slightly filling up the recesses of your mind. Once you got rid of the shirt, there would be no damning evidence against you.

You wait a few hours before you set out again, although you are tempted to go sooner. The sooner you go, the faster the evidence can be destroyed, but the longer you wait, the chance is larger that everyone will be asleep. At one in the morning, no one stirs as you slink down the hallway, passing the many rooms of your fellow classmates.

You remember, with a slight shudder, that there is now one major difference between them and you. You put it out of your mind as you head away from Hotel Despair, winding quickly through the darkened hallways lit up by the different colors. You hold your Student Handbook up to the screen, and you’re soon inside the exercise room again. It’s exactly as you left it, weight stacks exactly where you dragged them. You pause near them, looking down, see a brief glimpse of what is hidden, and move on. _It’s her fault_ , you think to yourself as you grab your bloody dress shirt from the restroom. You try not to look at it.

_I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time._ That's all you can think about, and this thought dominates your consciousness the entire time you walk to the trash room. Thankfully, everyone is still in their own dorm rooms, most likely asleep. You head down the white hallway, and open the trash room door swiftly.

One look in the room is enough to make your heart sink. There is an incinerator in the back of the room, just like Tidus said, but what he forgot to mention were the shutters that blocked your path.

_These must be what his trash key unlocks_ , you think miserably. There was no way you’d be able to get even close to the incinerator. You look at your bloody dress shirt, mind racing of a good place to hide it in your room, when your next idea hits you: _the ball_. Thrown just right, you could hit the button to start the incinerator. You take it out of your pocket, where you had absentmindedly stashed it before.

Breathing deeply, holding the ball in your right hand, you get ready. The button was nearly thirty feet away. It would be a very difficult throw for anyone, even someone like an Ultimate Baseball Star, let alone _you_.

But you had to try.

Backing up, giving yourself some room, you pause as you look only at the button. There's only one shot at this. You run forward, letting the round missile go, and it sails through a gap in the shutters. You can’t breathe as it sails through the air; it seems like it’s in motion for an hour.

You can’t believe when it hits the button dead on, and the incinerator begins to roar to life. _What the hell was that?_ you think to yourself as you ball your bloody shirt up. Compared to the first throw, this one's easier, but you can’t help grin when the shirt lands in the incinerator perfectly. You have no way of shutting the incinerator off, but the damning evidence will soon be destroyed.

You leave the trash room, the only evidence you’d been there a small purple ball on the floor.

After the short journey back to your room and a quick change into your pajamas, you collapse victoriously on your bed. You think back over the events of the last hour.

“Is this…luck?” you say to the ceiling.

You’ve always thought talents were bullshit, but…

You turn on your side, trying to clear your exhausted mind of everything that had happened. Somehow, you begin to feel yourself drift off, but just before you are about to sink into the darkness of sleep’s oblivion, you hear Miyuki’s voice again in your head. She sounds different than before, almost playful.

_Do you love me, Agro?_

Her tone was one you had never heard her use during your brief stay at Hope’s Peak Academy. It was a tone that made you shoot upright in bed and cause your blood to freeze in your veins.

“What the hell, man?” you whisper in the darkness.

Miyuki laughs in your head, a laugh you have never heard before in your life. _I thought so_ , she says.

Tears suddenly threaten to fall from your eyes, and you wipe the offenders away quickly. “What the hell is going on? What’s happening to me?” you ask the darkness, punching your pillow. Miyuki doesn’t answer or speak again. Squirming, you try to get comfortable, but sleep’s just impossible.

It is the longest night of your life. What do you think about?

 

**_If you think about the murder, turn to page 3._ **

_If you think about your amazing luck, turn to page 5._

_If you think about Miyuki’s words in your head, turn to page 7._


	10. Page 3

_I only hit her once_ , you think, remembering with vivid clarity how your hammer violently connected with Miyuki’s head. _How could she have died from just one swing?_

You think of her falling, of her blood arcing through the air, splattering the carpet and your shirt. You remember how she didn’t move after that, how there was no pulse when you placed a shaking hand to her neck. You remember how her eyes just _stared_ at you. No…it was definitely you that killed her. Even if it was only one swing…

Looking around your dark room, you imagine that she’s staring at you even now. For the first time in a long time, you duck completely under your covers, shivering with fright.

_I’m sorry, Miyuki, I didn’t mean to do it_ , you think, desperately hoping that somewhere she hears you. _I just wanted you to get away from Tidus, I swear!_

You wait for a moment, hoping that Miyuki’s voice comes to you and forgives you for what you’ve done. You wait in the darkness, hearing only the clock as the seconds pass. There is only silence; no one comes. You spend the next few minutes sobbing into your pillow, and the next few hours staring into the darkness, waiting for morning.

It is strange to feel relief when you hear Monokuma’s announcement, but it is undeniably relief. You quickly take a shower, barely feeling the warm water. You take a deep breath to steady yourself. _I need to stay calm, or the others will definitely think something’s up_ , you think as you shrug into another white dress shirt.

It is right when you reach for the door that a buzzer sounds, and it takes a minute for you to realize that it’s from your doorbell. When you open your door, Tadakatsu stands there, looking worried.

“Agro, were you out of your room at all last night?”

You shake your head, not trusting yourself to say anything. Tadakatsu sighs. “It was worth a shot.” He points down the hallway. “We’re meeting outside the cafeteria. Dio has…an announcement to make.” He walks down to Edwin’s door and rings the doorbell, leaving you to make your way down the hallway alone. A good number have already turned up.

“Hey Dio, could you please move?” Kaori was saying as you approach, “We need to get breakfast ready.”

Dio blocks the cafeteria entrance, looking a bit strange. “No can do. Tadakatsu is rounding everyone up, and then we’re taking a trip to the exercise room.” He scans the crowd. “You hear that, you sick bastard? I found your handiwork!” You try to act as confused as everyone else. _So, it’s happened_ , you think, slightly amazed at how calm you feel. Your heart isn’t even pounding.

Kanzaki slouches off without a word, undoubtedly heading for the exercise room. Dio yells at him to stop, but he doesn’t listen.

“We can’t have him tampering with anything,” Dio says. “Someone go after him already!” A few jump at his sharp tone, but Aika is not one of them.

“Relax, Afro, I’ll keep an eye on him.” She quickly leaves as well.

Dio relaxes slightly, but he does not answer any questions. The others quickly join in the throng. Questions begin to shoot out of your fellows’ mouths, but just as soon as Dio opens his mouth to answer one of them, bells interrupt him, and soon Monokuma’s voice fills the school.

_“Attention, all students! Head straight for the gymnasium on the double!”_ It chuckled gleefully for a moment. _“I suppose you can check out the exercise room, but I want you here within two minutes! We’ve got a lot to do…”_

You all glance at each other, and then begin running, navigating the multi-colored corridors as a crowd, miraculously not stepping on anyone’s feet in the process.

“What is it, do you think?” Ichigo asks the group at large, but no one answers. Dio reaches the exercise room first, but merely points inside. You all pool in…and see her.

Someone had partially dismantled your makeshift tomb, you realize. The Ultimate Skier, pale and still, lies on her back, where she had fallen the night before. The way her head was positioned, her wound was partially hidden, but the bloodstained carpet around her head reveals the truth: Miyuki Hiyama was murdered.

Only you know who has done it, however. You see Tidus start beside you out of the corner of your eye. Aika and Kanzaki stand there, looking similarly grim.

Before anyone can react, Aika ushers everyone out into the hall again. “Come on, you guys,” she says, pointing down the hallway, face set, “we’ve got to get to the gymnasium. No telling what Beary’s got cooked up today.” There was no trace of her customary smirk anywhere.

“How can you just say that,” Kaori says, hands covering her mouth, “Miyuki’s _dead!_ ”

Dio sighs. “Nah, she’s right. Who knows what the hell the bear will do if we’re late for his little party.” He pauses. “We might end up like her, or worse.”

Collectively stunned and shocked, the fifteen of you head to the gymnasium. You try to keep your thoughts in order, but you kept wondering, _what the hell has Monokuma planned?_

The bear sighs contentedly as you all pour into the gymnasium.

“Hello, hello! So glad to see you all up bright and early and on-time! Oh, I’m surprised, there’s only fifteen of you today. Now why could that be…?” It asks, a paw on its chin, pretending to ponder.

“Cut the crap, you bastard!” Dio snarls. “What happened to Miyuki? Who killed her?”

The bear pauses, but soon laughs long and hard. “Well obviously, it was one of you guys who killed her! I mean, I thought that was obvious!”

Dio blanches, and falls silent. For all his bravado, Monokuma actually saying those words shatters his confidence. Looking around the room, you see every face is a picture of confusion and fear to varying degrees. You yourself have been no stranger to fear these last twelve hours…

Monokuma basks in the stunned silence, and then cannot contain itself any longer. “Come on, you guys, didn’t we go over this? What happened to your friend wasn’t that big of a deal: one of you just killed Miyuki so you could graduate!” Its grin widens. “It’s just part of the rules! There’s nothing wrong with it!”

_Graduation…that’s right, I can graduate now…I can get out of here…_

“And…w-what if you lie?” Tatiana stammers out, looking like a porcelain doll about to shatter. Edwin lays a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, but he too looks visibly paler, perhaps even a little sick.

Monokuma shakes its head. “Nope! It was one of _you guys_ that killed her!” Its gaze roves the crowd, and you have the uncomfortable feeling that it lingers on you. “The person who did the deed should know that perfectly well.”

Unconsciously, the fifteen of you glance at each other, undoubtedly trying to see if you can catch the killer just by looking at them. You mold your face into as neutral of an expression as you can manage.

Yosuke adjusts the brim of his hat, looking nervous. “That’s the truth?”

Tadakatsu steps forward. “Where’s the evidence, Monokuma! I just can’t believe something like that! That one of us would kill someone, it’s just unthinkable!”

“Calm down, both of you,” Sylvia says, a layer of instructive authority in her voice now.

“Besides,” Kanzaki says, a ghost of a smirk on his face, “Monokuma’s been watching us the whole time. You’d think that if anyone knew who killed her, the teddy bear watching all the security cameras would. Isn’t that right?” he says, looking up at that 'teddy bear.'

Monokuma nods happily. “Yes indeed! I saw the whole thing, and boy, was it a _doozy_!”

“So,” Kanzaki continues, “that person gets to graduate now, right?”

_Yes_ , you think. _I’ll be leaving soon._

Monokuma’s laugh sent a shiver down your spine. “You think it’s that easy to graduate, huh?” it asks the group, looking around. “You just have to ax someone and then you’re home free? Well, it’s _not that easy_!”

“Not that easy?” The question left your mouth before you could stop it.

Monokuma looks at you, grin widening. “Quite the contrary. The real fun starts right now!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Aika asks, eyes narrowing.

“I thought you’d never ask,” it says, jumping up on stage with a mighty leap. “What I mean is, a few hours after the corpse is discovered, we’ll hold a _Class Trial_ , where the murderous blackened will face off against the righteous Heroes of Light!”

You’re all speechless at this pronouncement, so it continues. “The question you’ll have to figure out at this particular Class Trial is _who killed Miyuki Hiyama_? That answer will be decided by a vote at the end of the trial, you hear? If you come up with the right answer, the blackened villain will be punished, and everyone else will continue to live here in harmony.

“But get the answer wrong,” it says, seeming to look right into your eyes, “and the blackened will live on and escape from his or her sin, leaving the Heroes of Light to be punished in their place!”

_I’m the villain?_ you think to yourself. It’s hard wrapping your head around that thought.

Tidus speaks up for the first time that day. “What exactly do you mean by…punished? You’ve, uh, said that a lot.” he asks, eyes wide.

Monokuma’s happy laugh turns into a dark chuckle. “I’m talking _executed_ , boys and girls!”

As cries of shock echo throughout the room, you feel your body go numb. _Executed? I could die…or force fourteen people to die?_ You glance at Tidus, who’s attempting to stammer out a reply and failing. _…Even Tidus could die?_

“What, you mean we could die just because we get the answer wrong?” Ichigo cries out, looking around, her bright pink eyes wet with tears. “Whoever killed her, just confess! _This isn’t funny!_ ”

“Oh, I agree,” Monokuma says, nodding, the picture of sternness, “this is a very serious matter! You can’t make this decision lightly! After all, your lives are on the line!”

Dio punches his hand, growling. “You bastard bear, leave her alone already!”

Monokuma does not look intimidated, only confused. “I’m not a bastard bear! I’m a very friendly bear, especially because I’m about to give you all a gift before you start searching for clues to lead you to the blackened!” The bear pulls out a black file with a large red number _1_ on it. “This file has some data that I gathered on the corpse! Here’s the first of hopefully many Monokuma Files!” It throws the Monokuma File to Aika, who catches it easily in her gloved hands.

“What’s exactly in this file?” she asks, not deigning to open it yet.

“Just stuff like the cause of death and stuff. What’s in there will change depending on what I think is fair!” Monokuma says, sighing contentedly before it laughs again. “Well, anyway, the best of luck on your investigation! I’ll get in touch with you all again soon!” It disappears, leaving the fifteen of you behind and bewildered.

“Hey, look at the School Rules,” Tidus calls out, looking at his Student Handbook. “The bear’s added a few.”

You lean over to take a look at his Handbook, others taking their own out. Tidus was right, Monokuma had added a few rules pertaining to the Class Trial: when you would have one, who would live…and who would die. These rules make it official. You glance around the room, looking at everyone. It iss…insane…to look around a room full of people and realize that in order for you to survive the day, they would all have to die.

No one speaks for a moment.

“I’ll read the Monokuma File,” Aika says, flipping it open, “but should we split up after that?”

“That’s what they do in those c-cartoon mysteries,” a scared Yosuke says.

Dio sighs, crossing his arms. “This isn’t some show, kid,” he says.

“He’s just trying to help!” Kaori says. “We’re gonna get more clues that way, too!”

Honzo nods, straightening his orange glasses. “It is worth noting that in those cartoons they always get the criminal in the end. Today will be no different.” He looks around, gauging everyone’s reaction, and you have a hard time keeping a straight face.

“All right, all right! Just stop jumping down my throat,” Dio says, patting his hair. “We’ll split up, fine.”

You all turn toward Aika, and she clears her throat, savoring the spotlight just like last night. _How much does it tell them_ , you wonder, suppressing a shudder.

“Let’s see,” Aika begins, “The victim in this case is Miyuki Hiyama. The body was found in the exercise room near the Leg Press machine. The exact time of death is unknown, but the cause of death is a single wound to her head made by a blunt object. Other than that, there are no other wounds on her body.” She stops, and looks around.

“That’s all the File gave us?” Toshi asks incredulously, eyes wide. “We’re positively doomed! I’m going to see Mazabu sooner than I thought, and that is not a good thing!”

Ichigo sniffles, looking like she was about to burst into tears.

_The File barely told them anything_ , you think as you ask where everyone's gonna go, reassuring yourself. _There’s nothing left that points to me, anyway._

Edwin coughs gently into his scarf. “I will be at the crime scene,” he says. “The File might not be accurate.” He pauses as he adjusts his glasses and, for the first time, pulls his arms through the sleeves of his doctor’s coat. “Besides, I have a…secret weapon.”

“Going there, too,” Tatiana says, staring, wonder in her eyes as she gazes at his transformation.

“I’ll make sure no one tampers with the crime scene or the good doctor’s investigation,” Sylvia says calmly.

“You mind if I join you?” Dio asks, looking slightly uncomfortable. “I’m not cut out for investigating, but I’ve got the eyes of a hawk.”

“Be my guest,” Sylvia says with a polite smile, and the four begin to depart together.

Kanzaki starts to wander off as well, but not before calling out, “I’ll be interviewing each and every one of you before the trial, so don’t disappear.”

Honzo quickly follows him, saying that he doesn’t trust him walking alone unattended at a time like this. There's something about Kanzaki that put you on edge, as well…

“I can’t do this,” Ichigo says, whimpering. “This is _crazy_.” She sits down where she is. Kaori and Tadakatsu, both looking shell-shocked in their own way, join her on the floor, trying to comfort her. It’s obvious to the rest of you that they won’t be investigating at all.

“Maybe the killer tried to, uh, dispose of some evidence last night,” Tidus muses, looking at everyone left. “Anyone want to head to the trash room with me?” His attempt at a smile not sticking, he holds up his trash key helpfully.

“Who wants to roam the hallways with Toshi?” Toshi asks, trying to be chipper. “We’ll find something, I’m sure of it!”

_You won’t find anything_ , you think to yourself. It’s a ruthless thought, but Monokuma has forced you down this path of reasoning, thoughts of either you or them. Your life depends on it; your racing heart seems to know something's wrong.

You have to fill the investigation time somehow…

 

_If you head to the crime scene, turn to page 52._

_**If you head to the trash room, turn to page 54.** _

_If you roam the hallways, turn to page 56._

_If you stay in the gymnasium, turn to page 58._


	11. Page 54

“I’ll go with you, man. We’re a team,” you say to Tidus, attempting a grin. He grins back, already looking more confident in his plan. You notice that his black eye, while noticeable, is healing nicely. A whooping Toshi drags Yosuke out by his sweatshirt, with Aika trailing behind. Aimi joins Tidus and you without a word.

“Shall we go?” Tidus asks the two of you, running a hand through his hair nervously.

“We’ll follow you, glorious janitor,” you say, smirking when your remark elicits a laugh from your friend. For a brief moment, you can forget the situation you’re in. Aimi says nothing, following close behind.

“It’s probably not going to help,” Tidus says as the three of you walk under the green lights. The exercise room’s door was closed, unfortunately not allowing you a glimpse of what the others were investigating. “There probably wasn’t anything to get rid of.”

You grimace when you think of your bloody shirt, and force yourself to say, “There might be something, Tidus.”

“Criminals…panic,” Aimi says, speaking for the first time since you split off from the rest. Naturally, her words do not comfort you, and as Tidus awkwardly laughs you wish for a split second that anyone other than Aimi had joined you.

As you near the trash room your mind shifts to what you know is inside, what you’ll find while investigating. _If I can distract them with the incinerator,_ you think as Tidus opens the trash room door, _maybe I can get the ball without them noticing_.

On cue, Tidus frowns at the running incinerator, and turns to the two of you. “I definitely didn’t leave it on the last time I left this place.”

“So, someone’s been here?” you ask.

Tidus nods, grinning as he pulls his trash key out of his pocket. “Yep, it looks like it. Seems like this trip wasn’t a waste of time after all.” You take this time to locate the purple ball. It’s unfortunately located near the incinerator, so it will probably be only a matter of time…

“Wait.” Aimi’s voice freezes Tidus in his tracks just as he was about to unlock the shutters. She points through the shutters and your heart sinks when you realize what she’s hinting at.

“Hey, I totally hadn’t noticed that before!” Tidus says, excited at the round purple discovery. “You think it’s what the killer used to turn on the incinerator?”

“Has to be,” you say, swearing repeatedly in your mind, “there’s no way they could get close the incinerator without your key, man.” You pause. “Hell of a shot, though.”

Aimi looks at you, piercing you with her gaze as Tidus finally unlocks the shutters. “Praising a murderer?”

Your blood turns to ice. “N-no, give me a break, that’s crazy.” _Get off my case, Aimi_ , you think as she stares at you. It’s a relief when she turns away to inspect the running incinerator.

Tidus looks thoughtful as he picks up the ball. “Agro’s right, though, in a way.” He tosses it to you, and you catch it easily. “The killer had to throw it through the shutters and hit that small button from about thirty feet, and on the first try, too.” You silently thank him for his assistance, and he smiles and winks at you with his good eye.

His brow furrowing, Tidus glances between you and Aimi. “We know anyone who can do that? Where’d they get this, anyway?”

You are about to claim ignorance when Kanzaki bursts into the trash room, Honzo right on his heels. “Excellent, the trash team’s right where they should be,” Kanzaki mutters, just loud enough for you to hear it. When Tidus turns off the incinerator finally, the trash room quickly quiets down.

“I’ll interview you all one at a time,” Kanzaki says, glancing at the three of you, his gaze lingering on Tidus’s black eye.

“I will be assisting the process,” Honzo says, a noticeable trace of pride in his voice.

Kanzaki rolls his eyes at that pronouncement, and motions to the door. “Don't bother lying to me,” he says, and the three of them head out without Aimi saying a word.

Tidus and you were left alone in the trash room for a moment. He looks inside the incinerator hopefully while you glance nervously at the door, wondering what the hell they’d talk to you about.

“Whatever they were trying to get rid of,” Tidus says, stepping back and sighing, “they did a good job of it.”

It’s definitely hard not letting your relief show. “Hey, you doing okay, man?” you ask, trying to change the subject.

He looks at you for a long moment, and then shakes his head. “No, not really.” He looks truly miserable, you realize. “Miyuki…was the one who attacked me yesterday. She just punched me in the face, but now she’s…dead.” His eyes plead with you. “You don’t think _I_ did it, do you?”

“I…Why would she attack _you_? You’re practically harmless.”

“She was just angry about the photos, maybe about what we don’t know,” Tidus says, leaning on the incinerator, suddenly weak, legs shaking slightly. “When she saw me alone, she just…came at me.”

You nod wordlessly, remembering Aika’s words only two days ago: _It means that we were asleep for a lot longer than we thought_. How much longer was “a lot longer,” anyway?

Honzo’s return puts an abrupt end to your conversation, and Tidus is the next to be interviewed. He looks nervous as he leaves, and despite your own nervousness you throw him the ball to cheer him up. Tidus fumbles with it, but miraculously holds onto it. _He’s definitely got to work on that_ , you think as you find yourself alone in the trash room.

You try not to think about the fact that he won’t get that time, not if everyone else is executed in the trial in your place. As you inspect the incinerator, you think about death. _Does it hurt to die?_ you wonder as you find not a trace of your old dress shirt, just as Tidus had said. You figure that whatever Monokuma has planned for the executions, they cannot be anything quick and painless.

It is hard to banish these thoughts when Honzo returns for you, and ushers you out into the hall for your interview.

Kanzaki stands just outside the door, and he flips to the next page in his small notepad. Tidus and Aimi were nowhere in sight, but Honzo answers your unspoken question: they left to investigate elsewhere.

Kanzaki readies his pen, and launches into the first question. “Agro Tenma, what were your whereabouts after the talent show started?”

You pause, collecting your thoughts. “Well, I was the first act. I had planned to stay through the entire thing—“

“You left?” Kanzaki asks, cutting you off, his pen never ceasing. You wonder what he’s writing.

“Yeah,” you say, slightly irritated at his interruption, “so did you.”

Kanzaki sighs, and his pen stops for a brief moment as he looks at you. “Being defensive won't help you.” He poises his pen again. “Why did you leave?”

You think about saying that you were irritated at his interruption more than his question, but think better of it. You need to remain calm. “Tidus wanted my help with something.”

“And what was that?” Kanzaki’s smirk was slightly maddening. “Did you go into the exercise room at all?”

You pause, knowing what was coming. “Yeah. He wanted me to help him get started on working out. So that’s where we were for a little bit.”

“And what time was that exactly?”

You think back. “Maybe 7:30, or some time around there.”

Kanzaki makes a note in his notepad. “And what happened there?”

_Everything_ , you think. _This whole mess happened there_.

“After I showed Tidus how to use one of the machines, I went to the bathroom.” You put your hands in your pockets, realizing that subconsciously you had put your hammer in your pocket again. “I was in there for a little while, and when I came out, Tidus had been attacked. He was just waking up when I left the bathroom.”

“Was there anyone else in there at the time?”

“No, just Tidus.” _Miyuki was underneath a stack of weights._

Kanzaki makes another note on his notepad, motioning you to continue, looking unconcerned to hear that Tidus had been attacked.

“Did he tell you who attacked him?” Honzo asks.

You pause, and then nod. “Yeah, he told me a couple minutes ago.” You look at your interviewers, making sure you have their complete attention. “Miyuki was the one who did it.”

Honzo’s expression was one of shock. Kanzaki grins for the first time, and writes a note of what you said.

He waves his pen at you. “Continue, Agro.”

You take a deep breath to steady yourself. “Well, obviously, after that I got him to the cafeteria, and we talked for a bit before we split up again.” You try to keep the nervous quaver out of your voice. “I managed to make it to the end of Toshi’s act, and then we all went to bed.”

“That’s it? You didn’t get up and roam the halls at night?”

“As I told Tadakatsu already, I was in bed all last night.” _I wandered the halls, threw my dress shirt into the incinerator, and nobody can prove it was me._

Kanzaki sniffs, nodding once. “That’s…adequate for now.” He peers into your eyes. “I imagine we’ll find out more at the trial.”

You shrug noncommittally, and begin to walk away. There’s nothing left in the trash room to discover. You weren’t able to clean up the last piece of evidence. You wander the halls aimlessly for only a moment, Honzo and Kanzaki trailing somewhere behind, when bells sounded throughout the school.

Even before Monokuma begins speaking, you know it’s time.

_“Hey, I’m getting tired of waiting here…so let’s get this Class Trial started, already! Please go through the giant red doors on the first floor of the school zone. See you soon!”_

Monokuma’s chuckle fades into silence, and you start toward your destination. When you see the red doors after a minute of walking alone down the corridor, no one around, something makes you turn toward the exercise room, just for a second. Dio’s there, frowning near the doorway. You briefly wonder what is so interesting, but then you move on. Your hand closes on the handles, and you pull the red doors open with a mighty effort.

An utterly plain room, with gray walls and gray stone floor, awaits you. The only thing out of the ordinary is an elevator along the far wall. Mostly everyone is here, you notice, as you stand next to Tidus. You notice that Ichigo seems more stable now than when she was sitting on the floor of the gymnasium. No one talks; everyone seems lost in thought, thinking of the trial, of the identity of the killer, of what’s going to happen when it’s all over.

Dio, Honzo, and Kanzaki all stroll in, and then all fifteen of you are here. Monokuma’s face appears on the lone screen in the room, and it instructs you to head into the elevator to get to the courtroom…the courtroom that will “decide your fates.”

You could’ve done without that reminder.

You all file in, fitting comfortably, and the doors close automatically. You feel the elevator descend, descend, and descend some more. You feel like you’re going deep into the bowels of the earth.

“We’ll figure out who killed you, Miyuki,” Kaori says quietly, her voice somehow carrying over the noise of the elevator. No one responds, and the rest of the trip is spent in silence.

You glance around at everyone. _Do they suspect me? Did they find anything out?_ They don’t reveal what they’re thinking.

After a few minutes of steady descent, the elevator stops gently, and the doors open. You’ve arrived at the courtroom, a hideous place of color and style. Candlesticks and curtains adorn the walls, their red clashing with the blue walls. The checkered tiles are nothing new. In the center of the room, arranged in a circle and situated on red carpet, are sixteen stands. You all notice that Miyuki has a stand of her own, her portrait marking her spot. Her smiling face, devoid of color, is crossed out by two ski poles.

Monokuma sits on its throne near the circle, cackling when you arrive. “Come on, my students, find your assigned seats! No time to marvel at the architecture; we’ve got a trial to do and punishment to dole out!” It is shaking with excitement as you all step forward. Ichigo opens her mouth when she discovers her stand is next to Miyuki, but Monokuma cuts her off. “No complaining about where I’ve put you either!”

You find your stand, and try to stay calm as everyone finds his or her own place. You look around the circle: there’s Sylvia to your left, Kaori, Yosuke, Toshi, Honzo, Aika, Tadakatsu, Tidus is practically across the circle from you, Ichigo, Miyuki’s monochrome face frozen in a smile, Dio, Tatiana, Kanzaki, Edwin, and Aimi on your right.

On its throne, Monokuma cackles again. “And the curtain rises on the First Class Trial! Remember, figure out who the blackened is, and only they get punished. If the rest of you get it wrong, the blackened will get off scot-free, graduating alone!” The bear pauses dramatically, raising its arms.

_“Court is now in session!”_

The First Class Trial has officially begun. You put your hands on your wooden stand, running your hands over its smooth surface. This is it: you’ve got to make the others believe someone other than you killed her.

You think about your beginning strategy...

 

_If you start a discussion about the murder weapon, turn to page 21._

_If you comment on the hopelessness of the situation, turn to page 45._

**_If you stay silent, turn to page 32._ **


	12. Page 32

“All right,” Aika says, breaking the silence first, “I think it would be a good idea to start with the Monokuma File, and work from there.”

“What do you mean by that?” Sylvia asks, confusion on her face.

Aika pauses, gathering her thoughts, drumming her hands on the stand. “I mean that there are a lot of mysteries hidden in that file.” She smirks. “Making sure we know what they are would probably do us all some good, right?”

Honzo straightens his orange glasses, smirking as well. “From what I remember there were two things that Monokuma chose to deliberately hide from us: the murder weapon and the time of death.” He points at Aika, as dramatic as ever. “That’s what you mean, is it not?”

She nods, looking slightly amused at his antics.

“Hang on,” you say, an idea forming in your head. Everyone turns to you, and you look at Edwin. “You investigated Miyuki’s body, right, Edwin?” At his nod, you continue. “Can we trust the file, or was Monokuma just lying through his teeth?”

“My teeth are sharp, too!” Monokuma says, interjecting suddenly. “I got the ‘Scariest Bear’ Award three years running at my zoo!”

Dio looks at the bear, utterly bemused. “I thought you were a robot…”

Edwin coughs into his scarf quietly, and clears his throat, drawing the attention swiftly back to himself. “Yes, I investigated. No evidence that the bear lied to us. The file…told the truth.”

“But how does that help at all?” Ichigo asks, pink eyes wide, her voice laced with a thin layer of panic. “So what if the file is telling the truth or lying?”

“It means we can investigate the file’s questions without thinking we’re wasting our time,” Aika explains. “The two main questions the file raises, as Honzo pointed out, are ‘what was the murder weapon?’ and ‘what time did the murder take place?’”

_Aika is surprisingly good at this_ , you think to yourself.

Dio, a hand on his chin and deep in thought, begins to speak. “Well, if the murder weapon was a blunt object, could it have been the handle of a knife?”

“How did you possibly arrive at that conclusion?” Honzo asks.

“Because there was a knife in the exercise room, dumbass!” Dio responds, anger on his face. “I’m just throwing out an option here!” You totally forgot about the knife Miyuki dropped.

“If we’re just guessing, Toshi thinks it could be a lead pipe! That’s a staple weapon in that one mystery board game, after all!” She looks at Ichigo, and her eyes narrow. “I’m watching you, Miss Pink…you’re just color-coordinated enough to be a suspect…”

Edwin coughs into his scarf again. “Dismissing Toshi’s statement,” he begins, pointedly ignoring her groan, “there is proof that the knife is not the murder weapon.”

Dio blinks. “Oh yeah? Lay it on me, doc. Where’s the proof?”

In response, Edwin brings out a small spray bottle. “Here’s your proof, Dio.”

Surprisingly enough, a sheepish Dio does not challenge this announcement. “Oh, right, your secret weapon,” he says.

“How is that bottle your secret weapon when you’re investigating a murder?” Kaori asks. You're wondering the exact same thing.

“Well,” Edwin says, putting his spray bottle back in his pocket, “I have hemophobia.”

Aimi’s breath becomes a sharp hiss. “Bigot.”

“ _Hemo_ phobia,” Edwin continues, acting as if Aimi hadn’t spoken, “the fear of blood. This spray bottle of Luminol was a gift from my father.”

“Luminol?” Yosuke asks. You’ve never heard of it either.

Edwin nods, more animated now. “Luminol and even a trace of blood invisible to our eye are an…exciting combination; this combination shines in the darkness. Blood doesn’t look like blood in the dark.”

“We sprayed the…crime scene,” Tatiana says. “The knife didn’t…light.”

“If it were the murder weapon, it definitely would’ve reacted to Edwin’s Luminol!” Tadakatsu says, suddenly excited. “Because of that, there’s no way the knife is the murder weapon!”

_Why the hell does Edwin have Luminol?_ you think to yourself. _How the hell am I supposed to beat that?_

“Hang on, Dio,” Tidus says, confused, “you said there was a knife at the crime scene?” At Dio’s nod, he goes on. “But if it wasn’t the murder weapon, then who had the knife to begin with?”

Toshi jumps up in the air. “Oh, oh, Toshi’s figured it out! There was a knife missing from the kitchen! That’s where it came from!”

“But who the hell took it?” you ask.

“There’s no way we can figure it out,” Ichigo says, bemoaning the mysterious circumstances just like you’d hoped.

“If we’re operating under the assumption that it was only Miyuki and the killer in the exercise room during the murder,” Kanzaki says, a determined smirk plastered on his face, “I think it’s a fair guess to say that Miyuki was the one with the knife, not the killer.”

Shock echoes around the circle, and the blood drains from Tidus’s face. Kanzaki’s eyes linger on your friend’s face; he seems to delight in that reaction. Tidus tried to open his mouth to speak, but no words come out.

“How can you be absolutely sure of that?” Sylvia asks.

Kanzaki shrugs. “As I said, it’s just a guess. But if I had to choose between a knife and a blunt object to kill someone with, I’d choose the knife every single time.” None of you like the look in his eyes.

“So, Miyuki attacked the killer with the knife?” Tadakatsu asks after a slight silence.

Again, Kanzaki shrugs. “Who knows? That’s a bit off-topic for now.” He glances at Tidus. “We’ll get to that later.”

“Back on topic, could a hammer be the murder weapon?” Kaori asks. You are surprised she’s the one to bring it up. “The boys all got one in their toolkits.”

“Finally, some good news!” Ichigo says, immediately cheering up a little. “So, one of the boys is the killer!”

“Not necessarily, since Kaori has a hammer too,” you say, shrugging, attempting to slow their significant progress. “It still could be anyone.” Kaori, hesitating slightly, confirms your assessment.

“The important thing,” Edwin says, coughing into his scarf, “is that a hammer would match the size of the wound.”

Aika nods, a smirk appearing again on her face. “So, that’s one mystery down.”

_Damn it, there’s nothing I can say_ , you think to yourself.

“So, when did the murder happen?” Honzo says, more to himself than the group at large.

_Not even I know the specifics of that, guys,_ you think.

Edwin coughs again into his scarf. “The crime scene can…help us.”

_How is that possible?_ you think, trying not to let the shock show on your face.

“Spill the beans, doc!” Toshi cries out, top hat nearly flying off her head.

“In the boy’s bathroom in the exercise room, there were paper towels in the trash. They were…used and bloody.” Edwin says, pushing his glasses farther up on his nose.

“I don’t really see how this gives us an answer, Edwin,” Kaori says.

Dio sighs. “Yeah, I’m with her. All we get from that is that the killer washed off his hands, or weapon, or something.”

“But that’s precisely it,” Sylvia says, her face shining with a certain understanding. “Think: there’s a specific time when the water supply is shut off for the night.”

“Ah, I understand now,” Tadakatsu says, nodding. “If the murder had happened after the water supply had been shut off, using the sink at all would’ve been impossible! There would be no water to clean up with!”

You swear over and over again in your head. You didn’t mean to forget them, but the more damage’s been done. This isn’t good.

“So,” Aika says, “The murder had to have taken place before 10 pm.” She pauses, thinking. “I definitely remember us all being there for the talent show at 7 pm.”

“Yep yep! Toshi managed to get everyone there in the beginning!” a pleased Toshi says.

“If we were all there for the beginning of the talent show,” Honzo says, “and the murder took place before the water had been shut off for the night—“

“The murder took place during the talent show!” Yosuke says, the words escaping from his mouth in an excited torrent. He adjusts his hat nervously at Honzo’s irritated glare.

“I think we’ve narrowed our potential list of suspects down considerably,” Kanzaki says flipping open his notepad. He’s right. The list of possible culprits has shrunk drastically. More troubling, it was a list that you were still on.

“Establishing a timeline would be an effective use of our time,” Sylvia says, her too active hands betraying the nervousness that her calm voice hid. “For instance, when was the last time we saw Miyuki alive?”

“Well, she was definitely at the talent show to start with,” Dio says, shrugging. “I remember laughing about it with her right before it started.”

Kanzaki begins turning pages furiously, finally stopping at the right page. “I believe Aimi is most suited for telling us who left the talent show at what time.”

Aimi pauses when you all turn to look at her, shrugging. “I had a…good view,” she says.

“Who…went?” Tatiana asks, her vice quavering slightly.

Aimi takes a deep breath, and lists the names: Svlvia, Kanzaki, Tidus, Miyuki, Kaori, Dio, and…you. At least she mentions that you came back at the end. It’s still hard to ignore all those suspicious gazes, though.

“I was…in the bathroom for most of that time,” Sylvia says, blushing. “Something I ate did not agree with me.”

“I just needed to stretch my legs a little bit, I swear,” Dio says, now nervous. He points to Kaori. “I was with her most of the time!”

Kaori nods. “Yeah, we walked and talked for a bit, and then went right back in. Nothing exciting happened.”

“What I did is none of anyone’s concern,” Kanzaki says. “If I had killed Miyuki, I think I made it clear that I would’ve stabbed her, not bashed her over the head with a hammer.”

“Y-you could just be saying that,” Tidus says, still pale as a ghost, “How do we know you’re telling the truth?”

Kanzaki simply shrugs in response, but when he looks at Tidus his gaze is piercing, razor-sharp. “You don’t…But what were _you_ doing when you left with Agro?” He flips a page in his notepad. “ _That_ is what I am most interested in.” His grin is a predator’s grin, and your innocent friend is looking more and more like trapped prey.

“We just went to work out for a bit, that’s all,” he says, looking to you for support. You nod, but inside you’re realizing something. _This could be my chance_.

“We’ve all notice that you’re sporting a new black eye,” Kanzaki says, grinning cruelly. “What happened? Did you accidentally trip?”

Tidus, shaking, looks at Kanzaki, then you. “N-no, but—“

“Isn’t it far more likely that when you were in the exercise room Miyuki came in and attacked you? Desperate to survive, you swung with your hammer, killing her, and then tried to hide your crime before anyone else could figure it out?” Kanzaki says, talking about murder like someone else would talk about the weather.

Ichigo points at Tidus, hoop earrings tinkling. “So he's the killer? He did it?” She looks relieved that an answer has presented itself.

“Agro, could you tell everyone what you told me during your interview?” Kanzaki says, his cruel grin now turning to you. “Once you do that, I believe this entire case will be blown wide open.”

You nod, taking a deep breath. _I’m sorry, Tidus_ , you think as you open your mouth, _but this has to be done._ You tell the rest what you had said earlier: your time in the bathroom, seeing Tidus sporting a black eye when you came out, taking him to the cafeteria, your splitting up, his confession to you in the trash room during your investigation. By the time you finish, the room seems to have dropped a few degrees, and the atmosphere is tenser than before.

“So, Tidus killed Miyuki while Agro was in the bathroom, covering up his crime so Agro wouldn’t notice when he came out! He just pretended to be unconscious, and after they split up, he went back to the crime scene to clean up the blood while he still had time!” Tadakatsu says. “Everything fits perfectly!”

Tidus, quivering, finally speaks up. “N-no, it’s not how it looks! I admit, it looks bad, but I didn’t kill her! You have to believe me!” His eyes roam the courtroom desperately, latching onto you. “You believe me, don’t you, Agro? _We’re a team, right_?”

His words pierce you to the bone. You pause for what feels like an eternity, and then sigh, shaking your head. “I don’t know what to believe, man,” you say. Tidus moans, a sound that sends a shiver to your very soul.

“Hey, Monokuma, how are we gonna cast our votes?” Kaori asks, looking determined.

Monokuma chuckles. “Are you all blind or something? If you think you’ve figured out whodunit, press the right button!” Every stand is filled with buttons, each button correlating to a specific student. Monokuma chuckles when some of your classmates reach out to press a button. “But be warned, you can’t change your vote after you’ve already pressed once! Indecision will not be rewarded in this courtroom!”

Kanzaki immediately presses his choice, smirking at Tidus as he does so. _I’ve done it_ , you think as you watch others prepare to cast their own votes. _I’m going to survive!_

“Wait.” It’s Aimi.

Everyone freezes at her interjection. “Stop it,” Ichigo says to her as she presses her own choice. “Stop defending him! We _know_ he did it, now we can stop this horribleness!”

Surprisingly, Dio also looks unsure. “No, we should hold up,” he says.

“We _should_ be absolutely sure before we cast our votes,” Tadakatsu says, his finger hovering over a button. “What’s your objection to us ending the trial here and now, Aimi?”

No one else presses a button yet; they’re all waiting to hear what Aimi has to say. _Damn it, two people is nowhere near a majority!_

“The culprit...disposed of something,” Aimi says, her cat eyes roving the courtroom.

“He’s got the trash key, so he’d be perfectly able to do that,” Kanzaki says, shaking his head. “This is a waste of time.”

Tidus shakily takes the purple ball out of his pocket, fumbling with it as he holds it up. “The killer left something behind last night. They had to throw this through the shutters to turn the incinerator on.” He looks at Kanzaki, a little bit of color coming back to his face. “If I was the killer, I wouldn’t have to do that! I’ve got the trash key, after all!”

Kanzaki laughs dismissively. “You could’ve dropped that ball after you opened the shutters.” His smirk widens. “Try again. I’m enjoying our little game.”

Tidus falters, but Aimi picks up the slack immediately. “No,” she says, looking at him.

Kanzaki’s eyes narrow at the challenge. “And why _not_?”

“He never came back,” Aimi says, expressionless as she explains.

Toshi nods. “Yeah, Cat Girl is right! Toshi definitely doesn’t remember him in the audience at the end! There’s no way he could’ve taken my stuff!”

“When you put it like that,” Tadakatsu says, “Tidus can’t be the killer…”

_This is bad, this is really, really bad_ , you think as you look around at the others. Kanzaki looks furious and Ichigo is utterly overwhelmed, but no one looks like they’re about to vote for Tidus anymore. Your friend looks relieved at the recent turn of events.

“But,” Yosuke says, nervous, “if Tidus didn’t do it, then who did do it?”

Silence reigns in the courtroom for a moment, but only for a moment. “Oh, no more debating?" Monokuma says, straightening up on its throne. "I suppose I’ll have to end the trial if no one else wants to talk…”

_Please, you bastard bear, end the trial_ , you think.

“Hang on, you bastard,” Dio says, his voice a low growl. “There’s one thing we can use to solve this, you know? It’s something that no one else saw, even when it was right in front of their faces!”

“Do tell, Pompadour,” Aika quips.

“What could you possibly have uncovered, Dio?” Sylvia asks.

“Always the tone of surprise,” Dio says, his face beginning to flush with anger. “If you give me a minute to talk, I’ll explain!” No one else interrupts, and so he continues. “I was wondering why the exercise room was the only one to have that weird screen next to it.”

He pauses, looking around the courtroom. “I did some investigating, and I found out that the screen wasn’t just a blank screen, but an _entry log_!”

Shock echoes throughout the courtroom, and you need a minute to process what Dio just said. _That screen was an entry log?_ Your blood suddenly turns to ice. _It recorded every time I went in there?_

“I guess I didn’t really think about it before, but that entry log’s gotta point to one person as the killer, and one person only!” Dio says, his voice now a roar. He’s caught up in his own excitement, his sudden usefulness. His finger was up in the air, but it was coming down, falling like a headsman’s ax…

It falls right on you.

“Agro, you’re the bastard who killed Miyuki!”

Your worst fears are coming true. Tidus looks at you, wide-eyed.

           

**_If you react to the accusation calmly, turn to page 101._ **

_If you react to the accusation nervously, turn to page 104._

_If you react to the accusation angrily, turn to page 109._


	13. Page 101

Everyone’s staring at you. Your heart is pounding, but you’re stunned by how utterly _calm_ you are. _This is it, this_ _is where my fate’s decided_ , you think. _Right here, right now._

“Hey Monokuma, is there really an entry log? I mean, what’s the point of it?” you ask, ignoring the accusation for the moment, giving yourself time to think of a reply.

Monokuma chuckles, grinning horribly. “Yep, Dio’s absolutely right! He solved the mystery of the exercise room!”

“You going to give up?” Dio asks, his voice a threatening growl.

“Hang on, there’s no way Agro can be the killer,” Tidus says, disbelief evident in his voice. “There’s just _no way_.” He pauses, shaking. “Where’s your evidence?”

Dio laughs, unconcerned. “That’s easy. The entry log clearly says that Agro entered the exercise room at 7:36 pm and then again at 1:25 am.”

“That’s not exactly irrefutable evidence,” Aika says, sighing. “You have anything better?”

Dio pounds his stand, ignoring her. “Agro, I know you were in the exercise room early this morning. _Why the hell were you there_?”

You grin, trying to appear at ease. “Dio, I get where this attack is coming from, but I just went to the exercise room to get my shirt. I’d forgotten it earlier.”

“There, an innocent explanation! Now, can we please try to find the real killer?” Tidus asks, his eyes darting around.

“Agro, can you explain exactly why you chose you get your shirt that early?” Honzo asks, looking unconvinced.

You shrug. “It stuck in my mind, man. I just chose the wrong night to go wandering the halls.” You force a laugh. “I guess I’m unlucky.”

“That’s really weird, though!” Toshi exclaims, giggling. “I mean, why wouldn’t you wait until you got up in the morning to go get it? It’s not like your shirt can get up and walk around like Toshi’s can, so it just seems so unnecessary!”

“You lied to me, Agro,” Tadakatsu says, jabbing his finger in your direction. “You said you didn’t leave your room last night!”

You rub the back of your head awkwardly. “I was just embarrassed.”

“…Embarrassed?” Tadakatsu says.

“Dio,” Sylvia says, suddenly interjecting, “did the entry log say that someone other than Miyuki and Agro went into the exercise room last night?”

Your heart sinks when he just shakes his head, looking more and more confident.

“So in other words, only Tidus or Agro can be the killer?” Aika asks the group, her gaze boring into you.

Tidus looks at you for a long moment, but doesn’t have the strength to say anything. It seems you’re going to be on your own in your defense.

“All right, you’ve all talked enough,” you say, trying to keep your voice level. “It’s my turn now.” You grin despite your desperate situation, or perhaps because of it.

Silence greets those words. You have their attention. “You claim _I’m_ the killer? That’s just a whole lot of guesswork! What was my motive? I didn’t have one. Did I even have a hammer? You can’t be sure. Did I use the incinerator? That’s impossible without the key. Why did I go to the exercise room so early in the morning? My explanation is believable. Did I kill Miyuki, or did Tidus?” You pause, breathing hard, and your restrained anger threatens to slip through the cracks. “Where’s your proof? _If you’re all so goddamn certain, link me to the crime beyond a shadow of a doubt!_ ”

“Agro’s not going to be satisfied until we prove it, huh?” Aika mutters, her voice easily heard in the quiet courtroom. She suddenly pounds her stand, locking eyes with you. “We’ll just have to prove it then, one step at a time!”

“Well, I can definitely say that Agro had a hammer yesterday,” Kaori says, glaring at you as her eyes shine with tears. “He showed it to me in the cafeteria.”

_Goddammit, she’s right_ , you realize: you’d shown her your hammer just for a second when you’d asked her about her own.

Aika holds up a finger. “That’s one connection down, gang.”

“Maybe…we’re asking the wrong shirt question.” Tatiana’s soft voice is a breath of fresh air to your classmates; it rejuvenates them in the face of your ultimatum.

“What does that even mean?” Ichigo asks, sniffling.

Tatiana pauses, but gains the courage to speak. “Why…couldn’t he wait to go?”

“Tatiana, that’s brilliant,” Edwin says, his words causing her to blush furiously. “Thinking about it that way…”

“A small question first,” Honzo says, interrupting, “does anyone recall Agro wearing his normal shirt when he came back to see Toshi’s act?” All around you, people shake their heads. Honzo nods at this, satisfied. “Although this is simply speculation, perhaps his shirt got some of Miyuki’s blood splattered on it.”

In your mind’s eye, you relive that moment; Miyuki’s blood splatters on your shirt once again. You recoil slightly.

“He couldn’t just carry his bloody shirt around,” Edwin says, picking up where he left off. “The best time…would be in the middle of the night.” He pauses, his blue eyes looking at you from behind his glasses. “Agro didn’t wait until morning probably because he felt he _couldn’t_. If we saw the shirt we…would have known immediately.”

“So his shirt was what he threw into the incinerator?” Sylvia asks, tapping her chin.

Aimi nods. “A bloody shirt’s no good…for a murderer.” Her cat eyes are just as unnerving as ever, and she practically hisses at you, pointing sharply, thrusting her verbal attack in deep. “The purple ball near the incinerator…proves it.”

Toshi looks shocked. “Wait, Toshi is an accomplice?”

“Let’s say I did have the purple ball,” you say. _They’re smashing through all of my arguments, getting everything completely right! But there are two things they can’t possibly pin on me._ “To get rid of my shirt, I had to throw that ball through a small gap in the shutters and also hit a small button about thirty feet away.” You smirk, your heart pounding. “That’s just not possible for someone like me.”

“It…seems impossible,” Yosuke says. He looks around at the rest. “How could he do _that_?” A pause. “Were…we wrong?”

Silence accompanies these words. _I’ve got them_ , you think, looking around at them. Doubt clouds their once-sure faces.

Suddenly, Aika smirks right back at you. “So, this is why you asked for proof, Agro? Because we can’t possibly prove you turned on the incinerator?” With her many crowns, she is a queen presiding over a lowly peasant, deciding their fate. “Think about the talents we were all given by Hope’s Peak! We don’t have to _prove_ he did it, we only have to show that Agro’s the likeliest one to have done it!”

“He threw the ball, trusting his luck…” Sylvia says doubtfully.

“We’ve been saying how impossible the throw was,” Tadakatsu says, “but maybe that’s just it! Being the Ultimate Luck, Agro was just able to make that near-impossible throw somehow! It was just a _lucky throw_!” He laughs in relief.

“Care to give up now, Agro? Confess so we can finally end this?” Aika asks.

You look around quickly. Your guilt seems certain on more than a few faces. Tidus looks like he hasn’t heard the last few minutes of testimony.

“Not yet,” you say. “I’m not the type of person to just give up, not when I’ve still got a way out!” You look straight at Kaori. “You and I chatted yesterday about getting out of here before anything bad happened, Kaori.” You smile sadly, looking around at the rest of the group. “Miyuki wasn’t after me, she was after _Tidus_. I had nothing to do with that little conflict! So why would I possibly kill her?” You pause, mind racing, cornered. _This is it, my last stand!_

“ _What the hell was my motive?”_

Kaori pauses in shock. “Guys, he’s right. We did talk about getting out of here yesterday!” She looks around. “The Agro I talked to yesterday in the cafeteria couldn’t have planned to kill anyone!”

“No,” Honzo says, “there must be something we overlooked. There must be!” From the tone of his voice, it’s clear that he is not entirely sure himself. Doubt begins to seep back into their faces, and they glance between you and Tidus.

Tidus, pale and shaking once more, gulps visibly, and finally opens his mouth to speak. “What if…the murder wasn’t planned?” His quiet words chill you to the bone. “Last night, Miyuki attacked me and knocked me out. When I woke up, only Agro was there.” He pauses, looking at you, as if hoping you’ll stop him. You’re unable to do anything but look at him.

“I had thought that Miyuki just needed to vent, to take her frustration out on me a little.” He looks at Dio. “But she really _did_ want to kill me. She had a knife ready.” He pauses, and then the next question comes down with the force of a hammer, in your mind smashing your defense and scattering it to the four winds.

“So why didn’t she?”

No one knows how to respond to that question. In an instant, you feel all the fight go out of you. You feel drained. It’s insane, but…you know it’s nearly over.

“Why didn’t she, man?” Your voice is strangely calm. “You’re…almost there.”

Tidus whispers his response, his words easily carrying to all corners of the dead silent courtroom. “You killed her to save my life, didn’t you, Agro? _That_ was your motive.” In that instant, your crime becomes something _real_.

You sigh, pulling out your hammer, and pass it to Edwin. “Spray that Luminol stuff on my hammer.” You pause, choking out your words with a mighty effort. “Some things you can only see in the dark.”

Edwin quickly and silently does so, and turns to look at Monokuma, commanding it to turn off the lights.

“With pleasure!” Monokuma cackles. The lights in the courtroom go out, leaving you in near darkness.

“Look at that, it’s glowing! The hammer’s glowing!”

“So that’s what it looks like in the dark…”

“It’s…strangely pretty…”

_My crime’s shining in the darkness for everyone to see_ , you think as you stare at your glowing hammer, the only source of light in the dark courtroom. _It’s…all over._

_I’m going to die._

“Well, I think that about does it for this Class Trial,” Monokuma says, cackling when the lights come back on. “Everyone who hasn’t, cast your votes already! Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one?”

All around you, your classmates vote. You press a random button.

There is a pause as Monokuma tallies up the votes. You look anywhere but at your classmates’ faces. You are afraid what you might see in them.

“Interesting…very interesting…” Monokuma says. It jumps from its throne, landing somewhat gracefully in the middle of your circle. “Congratulations, Heroes of Light! This time the majority of you were right on the money!” It looks straight at you. “The blackened in this case, the one that killed Miyuki…was none other than Agro Tenma!” Its grin widens.

“Agro…so it’s true? It’s really true?” Kaori asks.

“Yeah…you got it all right,” you say, gritting your teeth, a bead of sweat trailing down your face. “I came out of the bathroom, saw Miyuki with the knife standing over Tidus, and…and…”

“Yes, it’s quite sad,” Kanzaki says, still fuming, “but I don’t really care _why_ you did it, Agro. It only matters that you did, and were found out by us.”

_Not by you, Kanzaki_ , you think, glaring at him. _I fooled you at least._

“Isn’t it about time you punish him?” Kanzaki asks Monokuma.

 Tidus looks shocked, as if he forgot what came next. “You can’t mean _execution_! Agro did it to save my life! I’d be dead right now if it wasn’t for him!”

“What he did,” Monokuma says, voice dark and low, “was commit _murder_. There are no extenuating circumstances in this courtroom. You’re either guilty or you’re innocent, and Agro is definitely guilty!” The bear shakes its head as it raises a claw, miming the swing of a blade. “And guilty people have to pay the price!”

The others don’t have a reply to that ready. Relief and shock show on their faces in equal measure. You just feel numb. The cold chill of defeat seeps into your bones.

Monokuma chuckles. “You’re all feeling such despair. Miyuki and Agro betrayed you all.”

The bear continues, smiling evilly, “With all that said, let’s hurry up and get to what everyone’s been waiting for… _the punishment_!”

“We’ve…already had enough death, Mr. Bear…” Tatiana says softly.

“I’m tired of begging!” Monokuma cries out. “Agro must pay the penalty for breaking the rules. Society demands it!”

“Hey, Tidus,” you say, looking at your friend, trying to ignore Monokuma, the pounding in your chest, and your imminent death.

“Now then, I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Agro Tenma, the Ultimate Luck!” Monokuma says, its loud voice filling everyone’s ears.

“I had fun, man.” You fail to grin. Tidus tries to speak, but no words come.

“Let’s give it everything we’ve got! It’s… _punishment time_!” Monokuma says, its one red eye flashing directly at you before it hops back onto its throne. You continue to look at Tidus, even as Monokuma takes out a gavel, bringing it down on a big red button…

“Sorry we couldn’t keep being a team,” you whisper, the courtroom silent. Tears fall down Tidus’s cheeks. For a moment, nothing happens. You aren’t immediately struck dead. You clutch your wooden stand for support, the bead of sweat dripping onto it.

Suddenly, you hear a rumbling in the walls behind you, and something cold and metallic clasps around your neck before you can react. _Something_ yanks you away, dragging you on your back out of the courtroom along a dark passageway. You try to free yourself, your hands tugging at the smooth steel collar around your neck, but you can’t. You are utterly helpless. As soon as you begin to wonder where you’re being taken, you slam into something flat. More steel restraints wrap themselves around your arms and legs, firmly holding you in place. You can’t move.

You struggle to tilt your head, and you realize you’re trapped on a large steel disc. _It’s kind of like a giant Frisbee_ , you think, in a cold sweat. You’re at one end of a long corridor.

Monokuma appears before you, grinning like never before. In a swift motion, it easily picks up the giant disc, and the other end of the corridor ignites in flame. _It’s another incinerator!_ you think, terror threatening to overwhelm you.

With a mighty grunt, Monokuma throws the disc in a perfect arc, and you spin wildly, the temperature growing hotter as you approach the flames. You scream as the bright orange flame gets closer and closer, filling your vision...

The giant Frisbee completes its journey into the flames, the incinerator’s grate slamming shut, and the pain is excruciating. Your world is fire, smoke, and _pain_.

Miyuki’s laughing voice chases you into fiery oblivion.

_Hey, I love you too, you idiot—_

**Chapter 1 End**

**_Fourteen Students Remain_ **

 

_Turn to page 200._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Survivors**
> 
>   1. Dio Uno, Ultimate Pinball Wizard
>   2. Toshi Kowalski, Ultimate Magician
>   3. Kanzaki Kanesaka, Ultimate Reporter
>   4. Aimi Annen, Ultimate DJ
>   5. Tadakatsu Yamamoto, Ultimate Military Cadet
>   6. Ichigo Hana, Ultimate Pageant Girl
>   7. Yosuke Muramura, Ultimate Puppeteer
>   8. Sylvia, Ultimate Linguist
>   9. Edwin Albrecht, Ultimate Doctor
>   10. Kaori Hatagami, Ultimate Builder
>   11. Tidus Hayabusa, Ultimate Pilot
>   12. Aika, Ultimate Improvisational Actress
>   13. Honzo Konda, Ultimate Film Critic
>   14. Tatiana Rostislavna Volkova, Ultimate Ballet Dancer
> 

> 
> **Dead**
> 
>   1. Miyuki Hiyama, Ultimate Skier -- She was killed by Agro when he hit her in the head with his hammer in the exercise room.
>   2. Agro Tenma, Ultimate ~~False Protagonist~~ Luck -- He was executed by Monokuma after the First Class Trial in **Fiery Hot Frisbee Golf!**
> 



	14. Page 200

**Chapter 2: Drowning in Darkness**

You hardly remember the elevator ride back up from the courtroom. Tadakatsu drones on, going over new rules for you all to follow, like not going outside your room at night under any circumstances…something like that. You aren’t quite sure what people were saying exactly as you all walk through the halls. Agro’s punishment is all you can think about. You feel a hand on your shoulder.

“You all right, Tidus? You want to talk?” Their words sound like they’re coming from miles away, not right next to you.

Wrenching yourself away, you sprint down the too-bright hallway to your room. You hear them call after you, but you don’t stop. You want to be alone.

You start sobbing as soon as the door closes behind you. You throw your pillow across the room, not caring if you destroy the security camera by accident. You’re a whirlwind of destruction. The ice pack hits the bathroom door with a mighty thud.

“I’m sorry, Agro!” you cry as you rip the sheets off your mattress, dumping them on the floor. “It’s all my fault! I should’ve been stronger!” The words hurt as they tear out of your mouth like shards of glass. You taste blood in your mouth, but there’s none there when you check.

_Demon child_ , your parents had called you so many times before as you rampaged around your house. You’d destroyed so many things in your short life, so why weren’t you tough already? If you had, you’d still have a best friend here at Hope’s Peak.

You tip over your ironing board and kick your trashcan across the room, ignoring the twinge of pain in your foot. You spend the next few hours pacing your room, thinking wild thoughts, not noticing when you trip over your pillow, sheets, or chair. You pace, back and forth, back and forth, always moving, always thinking. Finally, you begin to slow, and you soon collapse on your bare mattress. Complete exhaustion takes its toll and you drift off.

You have difficulty sleeping peacefully on the best of days, but your sleep is now troubled by an amalgamation of nightmares. You see Agro being dragged away, screaming for you to help him, tears in his eyes—you see Miyuki, fury forever etched into her face, take out her knife and plunge it toward your chest—you see Agro swing his hammer towards your head, a strange look in his eyes—

The sound of your doorbell mercifully brings you back to reality. You stumble up to your door, unconsciously straightening out your rumpled pilot uniform. You crack your door slightly, peering out. Yosuke stands there, hands hidden within his sweatshirt pocket. “H-hey Tidus.”

“What do you want?” Your voice comes out as a raspy whisper, and Yosuke jumps slightly.

“Monokuma told me I was the new janitor,” Yosuke says, nearly stumbling over his words. Wordlessly, you fish the trash key out of your pocket and hand it to him. Secretly, you’re glad. You don’t ever want to go into the trash room again. Yosuke smiles at you, but doesn’t leave. It seems he’s working up the courage to say something…

You clear your throat. “Anything else you wanted?” you ask, in a hopefully more genial tone.

Yosuke pauses, his mouth working soundlessly. “We’re all having a late dinner in the cafeteria if you want to come,” he says eventually. When you hesitate, he goes on. “You haven’t eaten anything today, right?”

Your stomach growls loudly in response, and it feels weird to smile. “Just give me a minute,” you say.

Yosuke adjusts his hat. “I’ll tell them to get a plate ready for you,” he says, waving as he walks off. You quickly wash your face in the sink, trying to compose yourself as best you can, and then head off towards the cafeteria.

Dinner is a subdued affair, although nearly everyone eats together at the large table, with only Kanzaki sitting alone at one of the smaller tables. Kaori smiles at you for only a second and points to an empty seat, a plate full of food already in front of it. You all eat in silence, at least for the moment.

Suddenly, Kaori puts down her fork. The clatter attracts everyone’s attention. “Is everyone feeling all right about…what happened?” She looks uncomfortable. “I don’t want anyone doing anything stupid.”

“That’s a shitty question,” Dio says, looking irritated. “We were forced to watch someone die! It happened!”

Sylvia glares sharply at Dio as a deflated Kaori looks down at her plate. “She’s just making sure everyone’s all right.”

Dio sighs, rubbing his temples roughly. “I know that, damn it. I just want to get out of this fucking joint.” He’s swearing a bit more than usual.

Tadakatsu claps a hand on your shoulder. “If anyone feels stressed about the situation, please come talk to me!” He smiles brightly, a bit too wide. “As a cadet, part of my training is learning how to handle grief.”

“You think it’s that easy?” It's Kanzaki.

He stands up, smirking. “In case you haven’t noticed, sport, murder isn’t something you can just get over.” He begins to walk out. “Don’t be surprised when it happens again.”

Edwin says something sharply in German as Kanzaki walks off, causing Sylvia to laugh lightly. She refuses to translate when asked.

“I’m with Pompadour,” Aika says as Kanzaki leaves, cracking her knuckles. “We need to get out of here, and soon.” She looks around, a ghost of a smirk on her face. “I really don’t want to go through another trial. I don’t want to find out what my own execution…” She trails off with a sigh.

In the uncomfortable silence to follow, you all stand up, preparing to leave. “No running away,” Aimi says, an oddly determined expression on her face. “Dissonance and hardship…make for the best music.”

_I can’t run away from their deaths, huh_ , you think. A wave of shame washes over you as you remember the state you left your room in.

Ichigo, stone-faced, leaves without a word, and the rest of you file out after her a few minutes shy of Monokuma’s nighttime announcement. While it was a difficult dinner, you feel a little bit better. Being around people helps a little. And they want to help you, too.

As you bring a semblance of order back to your room and fix your bed, you keep your mind carefully blank. When you change into your pajamas and crawl under the covers, you don’t think about Agro or Miyuki dying; you think of the people still alive, of the situation you’re still trapped in. Agro wouldn’t want you to fall apart. At least, you know that he wouldn’t have fallen apart if the situation had been reversed. It’s going to be a long road, but you’re going to try.

As you fall asleep, you think how weird it is to have people care about Tidus Hayabusa. Besides Agro, no one’s really given you a chance before. You were too hyper, too erratic.

“Agro saved my life,” you whisper to yourself. “What kind of life would it be if I just kept throwing things around the room?”

_Not much of one, man_ , you imagine him saying. You smile, just a little bit, and close your eyes. This time, sleep comes easier, and no nightmares of the day’s events come to torment you.

The next morning, Monokuma’s morning announcement summons all of you to the gymnasium. You’d been up for over an hour at that point, meticulously ironing your uniform, so it was a small matter to be out the door in time to satisfy your sadistic headmaster. Your black eye was nearly gone, you notice; only a small yellow bruise remained. You quickly walked through the hallways, intent on reaching your destination.

In the gymnasium, Monokuma looks at the fourteen of you gathered before it, and grins. “Good morning, good to see you’re still kicking!” It cackles as it jumps up and down. “Now run around the gym five hundred times!”

“Not everyone here likes to exercise, you freaky bear,” Ichigo says, looking tired and irritated. Change has come swiftly for her, and she doesn’t seem to be adjusting well.

Monokuma stops its revelry, and looks at your frazzled classmate in surprise. “Why, if they were still alive, I’m sure Agro and Miyuki would’ve jumped at the chance to run around and stretch their legs!”

Dio punches the air. “Don’t talk about them like you care, you bastard! It’s because of your damn game that they’re dead, anyway!”

Monokuma raises a paw threateningly, suddenly hostile. “Don’t forget, you’re the ones who voted for Agro to die! I just tallied the votes!” Just as suddenly, it’s sad, sighing gloomily. “And here I was about to let you in on a secret, too…”

“What is this secret? I despise when things aren’t out in the open,” Sylvia says.

Monokuma shivers in mock terror, chuckling all the while. “So fiery, so cool, so ready to learn!” It sighs happily. “Just what I’d expected from the Ultimate Linguist.” It clears its throat. “Now then, I just wanted to say congratulations for surviving the first Class Trial. Every time you do, whole new worlds open up to you!”

“Does that mean we can get out of here?” Aika asks, gloved hands on her hips. Monokuma merely chuckles in response.

“You guys are smart, so I’m sure you’ll figure it out on your own!” It waves a paw. “Ta-ta for now, we’ll speak again really soon! I’ll be in touch, you crazy kids!”

“New worlds?” Tadakatsu mutters to himself, as Monokuma vanishes again. He looks to the rest of you. “You think that means Monokuma is going to let us out of the Academy?”

“Someone with his influence, letting us out right when it’s getting good?” Kanzaki says, chuckling all the while. “I don’t think so.”

You all go investigate as a group, and you soon learn what Monokuma meant: the shutters blocking the staircase up to the second floor have disappeared.

“These were totally here just a couple minutes ago, right?” you ask.

Honzo nods. “Definitely, no mistake about it.” He pauses, adjusting his glasses. “Monokuma seems to be a master at developing tension.”

"You're the same, right?" Aika says, smirking. “You both like your little dramatic pauses and surprises, right?”

Tatiana peers up the staircase. “What’s…up there?”

“It wouldn’t hurt to look for an exit,” Kaori says, shrugging. “Maybe Monokuma forgot to seal up some of the windows on the upper floors, or something.”

Edwin pauses, considering. “Maybe some doors unlocked down here.”

“Ooh, are we splitting up again? Toshi likes it when we split up! So many possibilities for shenanigans!” Toshi says, practically chirping with glee.

Dio looks at the crowd. “Once again, I’ll be looking for a way out.” He grimaces. “Even if we don’t find one, maybe we’ll find something in the rooms upstairs to help us get out of here by force.”

Silence follows, but Aika soon speaks up. “I’ll lead the team on the first floor, I suppose.” She smirks at Dio. “I just like to give you a hard time, Pompadour. You can’t match my popularity!” She sticks out her tongue at him, and he just rolls his eyes.

“Either option sounds promising,” you mutter to yourself, looking from Aika to Dio.

           

**_If you investigate the first floor with Aika’s group, turn to page 238._ **

_If you investigate the second floor with Dio’s group, turn to page 249._


	15. Page 238

“All right, gang, let’s move out,” Aika says, looking around at those who chose to join her, you among them. You all decide to investigate as a large group of seven, thinking that one might see what another might miss.

When you come to the pink and cheery infirmary doors, Edwin tries to yank the doors open, but they remain locked. He says something unkind in German, and then looks directly at the security camera nearby. “We need these doors open soon, Monokuma.”

Tatiana, looking troubled beside him, tries to comfort him. “But, you’re so skilled already. As long as we have you—“

Edwin shakes his head. “I am not a doctor yet. Only doctor-in-training for now.” He coughs awkwardly into his scarf. “But…thank you for the compliment.” He sighs wistfully, smiling at her. “If only I was skilled and recognized like you and ballet…”

“All right, lovebirds, let’s keep this adventure train rolling down the tracks!” Toshi says as Tatiana blushes. She then whispers loudly to Edwin, “I can conjure up a bit of alone time for you two if you want.” It is Edwin’s turn to blush, and Toshi giggles with glee at the effect of her words.

As your group nears the exercise room, you instinctively turn away, and look at the entrance hall. “You think there’s anything in there worth checking out?” you ask the group, looking at Ichigo in particular. “Remember that weird mailbox you were looking at a couple days ago?”

Ichigo nods after a moment of distraction.

“Worth a shot, I think,” Aika says, leading the way.

The entrance hall is mostly unchanged. The hatch has not suddenly opened up—clearly the “new world” Monokuma mentioned earlier was not the outside world. You were all still trapped. You all wander up to the mailbox, and find that it is no longer empty. Two Student Handbooks are inside, and one is slightly charred and blackened. You try not to think about that one…

You look around at the others. “You don’t think—“

“Congratulations on finding where I put the extra Handbooks!” Monokuma cries out, appearing behind all of you, cutting you off mid-sentence. “Gold stars for everyone!”

“Why would you even keep them around, you stupid bear,” Ichigo says, moving quickly away from the mailbox once she realized what was inside. “Some of us don’t want to be reminded of what happened around every corner!”

“Well, that’s where they’re staying, so there!” Monokuma says, chuckling at her reaction. “Happy hunting for the exit that totally exists—oh, there’s still plenty more new stuff to see on this floor!” The bear disappears; its cackling audible even after it’s gone.

“Looks like there wasn’t much new in here besides that,” Tadakatsu says, peering into the mailbox one last time. He frowns after a second. “Hey, where’d Miyuki’s Handbook go?”

You all realize he’s right: two Handbooks in the mailbox have suddenly become one. A quick search reveals that it’s not on the ground.

Toshi giggles while reaching out towards Ichigo’s earrings, and somehow produces the Student Handbook in her hand from nothing. “Toshi’s found it! It was in Miss Pink’s ear!” She cackles at her juvenile magic trick.

Ichigo looks absolutely livid, and she pushes Toshi away, causing her to stumble backwards and nearly trip over her cape. “What the hell is wrong with you, you stupid cow? I obviously didn’t want to see them!” she screams, tears in her eyes.

You feel a chill go down your spine, and you run a hand through your hair nervously. Ichigo begins storming away, but Tadakatsu shouts after her.

“Ichigo, wait! We promised to investigate together!”

She stops at the doorway. “What does ‘together’ matter?” She pauses, and for a minute you were sure she was going to turn back around. “Kanzaki was right. We’re all just going to die in here, aren’t we?” There’s an odd note in her voice, one you have never heard before.

“That’s not true,” Tatiana says, her quiet voice nearly going unheard.

“Ichigo, please calm down,” Tadakatsu says, slowly approaching her, hands above his head. “Toshi didn’t mean anything with her magic trick. No one’s trying to hurt you.”

“That’s right, I didn’t mean anything,” Toshi says, her voice oddly neutral. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you angry.”

Ichigo sniffles, but she doesn’t leave the room. She takes a deep breath, and turns around, wiping her eyes carefully. She tries to smile, but it slides off her face quickly.

Aika adjusts her gloves. “Come on, let’s try to find at least one thing to tell the others. Otherwise, I’ll never hear the end of it.” Her ghost of a smirk is friendly rather than biting, and the seven of you press on. Your group leaves the entrance hall still together but more reserved and tense than when you went in. The red doors leading to the courtroom were once again locked, and the seven of you proceed to Hotel Despair finding nothing of interest to tell the others.

“So, what do you think we’ll find?” you ask the others, trying to make a little conversation. The silence is making you a bit uneasy, fidgety.

“A few doors were taped up before,” Tatiana says. “Maybe we can get in there now?”

Edwin nods his assent. “That’s probably the case.”

What you first notice when you reach Hotel Despair is that what had been a jumble of yellow caution tape opposite the cafeteria was now a cleared passageway to the bath, if the blue cloth hanging from the doorway was any indication. Even though you try to match the few excited expressions amongst your fellows, inwardly you are not all that excited about the discovery. Baths meant sitting in one place for a long period of time, and you were not capable of doing that.

“Maybe I could work on that, though…” you mutter to yourself. Next to you, Edwin gives you a strange look, apparently hearing a part of your mutterings. You chuckle nervously as the group heads inside, grateful for the distraction so you don’t have to explain your weird habit.

When you all are inside, there’s no sign of a bath. It seems this first room is only a lounging area: black, comfortable reclining chairs are beside a pair of doors, and rows of lockers line another. Weirdly, a row of sinks dominates the far wall. The wooden walls give the room a rather quaint feel. With all of that taken in, the seven of you head for the double doors, grabbing the large handles and pulling them open. An outpouring of steam masks the room’s contents for a few seconds, but soon you realize that _here_ is the bath, or more accurately a small pool and a Jacuzzi tucked away in the corner.

Ichigo sighs contentedly, looking around the room with a small smile on her face. Words bubble out of your mouth before you can stop them.

“You like Jacuzzis, Ichigo?”

She looks at you after a few seconds, a small smile still on her face. “Yep. It reminds me of home, in a way. I’m really glad this is here.”

“We’ll be able to relax after we’re finished investigating,” Tadakatsu says, looking relieved at her sudden positive shift in mood.

Aika stands over by yet another row of sinks. “You get the feeling that whoever built Hope’s Peak was obsessed with cleanliness?” she asks, smirking.

Edwin and Tatiana go to investigate another door, finding a small sauna inside. Toshi quietly stirs the water of the pool with a foot, her usual energetic nature gone as if by magic.

“You guys ready to keep going?” Aika asks. You all nod: while this place is interesting and a few of you will definitely be back, there’s still more to see down here down on the first floor, more rooms that Monokuma’s unlocked.

The other new room you all discover is the storeroom, near another staircase to the second floor, this one still blocked by shutters. Inside the small space is a mountain of boxes and shelves containing a variety of things: mostly cleaning supplies, snacks, and clothing. A ladder leans against one wall. You notice a box of sport equipment tucked away into a corner, too.

“At least we won’t run out of food any time soon,” you say, looking around at the many snacks on display.

“That ladder might be useful in an escape attempt, too,” Aika says, humming to herself.

Edwin investigates a few of the boxes, but soon sighs in defeat. “It seems the infirmary holds the…bulk…of the medicine here.”

You hear the door to the storeroom shut behind you, and realize that Toshi’s already left.

“I think it’s about time we were supposed to meet the others in the cafeteria to report our findings,” Tadakatsu says.

Aika nods, satisfied and smirking. “I’ve got enough to match anything Pompadour tries to throw at me, unless they somehow discovered a way out already.” She heads to the door. “Let’s go.”

The walk to the cafeteria was only a matter of seconds, so your group was obviously the first back. Toshi was already waiting for you, throwing her hat up in the air and catching it expertly. You know you could never do something like that. Visions of Agro catching his Frisbee like a pro flash through your mind, the memories flying through in a quick burst, and you sit down quickly to distract yourself. You fidget restlessly.

“You all right, Tidus?” Aika asks you, raising an eyebrow.

“Yep! I’m always like this,” you respond, grinning sheepishly. You hope the others come back soon. As if they heard your silent plea, Dio’s group walks into the cafeteria, taking the rest of the empty seats near the large table.

Tadakatsu brings a hand down on the table suddenly, causing some of you to jump, and you to fall out of your chair in shock. He tries not to laugh as you scramble back into your seat. “Sorry, Tidus. Groups, report your findings!”

“Well, to answer the larger questions first, we didn’t find an exit or anyone to explain what has happened to us beyond that maddening bear,” Sylvia says, her expression carefully controlled. She looks neutrally at you all. “As you might imagine, he was less than helpful.”

“We didn’t either,” Edwin says.

“Oh, but we did find—“ Toshi begins, stopping herself quickly with a hurried, worried glance at Ichigo.

The others look confused. “Magical Girl, what are you hiding?” Honzo asks, adjusting his orange glasses. He points dramatically at Toshi, his finger nearly touching her nose. “We _will_ find out your secret, I assure you!”

Edwin coughs gently into his scarf. “We found the Handbooks of…the deceased…in the entrance hall.” He pauses, allowing everyone to absorb the information. “It was not a…comfortable discovery.”

Ichigo looks a bit guilty as she glances at Toshi, but quickly looks away again.

“There’s a giant pool upstairs, if anyone’s into that kind of thing,” Kaori says quickly, trying to ease the tension. “Nice temperature, too.”

“There’s a bath down here now,” Ichigo says. She sighs, awash in the pleasant memories. “It’s even got a sauna.”

Aika looks at Dio, competitive fire in her eyes. “The storeroom’s jam-packed with supplies,” she says, smirking. “Can you match that, Pompadour?”

“We finally found the library,” Kanzaki says, easily cutting through Dio’s sputtering. “Honzo prostrated himself before a box of DVDs,” he adds, grinning evilly at Honzo.

Honzo tugs at his collar. “I was overcome with emotion, you barbarian.”

With your important discoveries shared, the fourteen of you spent a little bit of time chatting. It seems cool things were discovered by both groups, even if there was no exit to be seen. Something’s bugging you, however…

It comes to you suddenly: _the code_.

“Oh, did you guys find anything about the code for the entrance hall?” you ask the other group.

Honzo taps his chin. “No numbers, but something wrote ‘What is the code?’ in one of the second-floor classrooms.” He points to the cafeteria’s security camera. “Probably a taunt by Monokuma, if you want my opinion.”

After this, talk turns to what you were all planning on doing next. Your explorations of the first floor had taken up the entire morning, but now your afternoon was free to do what you wanted.

“I’ll be in the bath relaxing if anyone wants to join me,” Ichigo says. You notice that Dio positively scrambles to join her.

“I want to try out the pool,” Kaori says, Sylvia nodding in agreement.

Tadakatsu pauses for a second, but he offers his own suggestion. “If anyone wants to work out in the exercise room, I’ll be there.”

Honzo clears his throat. “I will be in the library, if anyone needs me.”

“I think I’ll stay here for the…moment,” Edwin says, leaning back in his chair. Although she doesn’t say anything, you think that Tatiana will stay as well.

You look between your options. “How do I want to spend my afternoon, and who with?” you mutter to yourself.

 

_If you want to go to the public bath, turn to page 222._

_**If you want to go to the pool on the second floor, turn to page 234.** _

_If you want to work out in the exercise room, turn to page 248._

_If you want to go to the library, turn to page 255._

_If you want to stay in the cafeteria, turn to page 267._


	16. Page 234

“I think a swim sounds like a good idea,” you say to Kaori.

She smiles at you. “Great! The pool is just to the left when you go up the stairs. See you there!” Kaori waves, and then Sylvia and she walk off. You leave before you find out exactly what everyone else is planning to do with his or her time. You quickly make your way back to your room, and rummage through your bag for a few minutes. Finding your towel is easy, but it takes much more time than you thought to eventually extricate your blue swimsuit.

“Eureka!” you shout triumphantly to the heavens, clutching your prize tight in your fist. Now ready, you run back through the halls of Hope’s Peak, heading for the stairs to the second floor. You see Tadakatsu leading a reluctant Yosuke into the exercise room, but you don’t stop to say hello. You dash up the stairs without seeing anyone else.

The pale blue lighting immediately sets this floor apart from the first. “It’s kind of like this floor is infested with spirits,” you mutter to yourself, shivering. You weren’t superstitious, but it was just a feeling that struck you randomly. Thankfully you didn’t have to spend much time thinking under these lights; your destination was close by on your left, as Kaori had said.

Stepping through the purple doors (one adorned with an anchor), you find yourself face-to-face with a Gatling gun. Thankfully, you realize after a second of panic that it’s not actually pointed at you, but in the direction of the two doors on the far wall. The two doors were different colors, one blue and one pink.

“Locker rooms,” you mutter to yourself.

“Did you say something?”

The voice came from one of the corners, and you whirl to face it. Sylvia stands there, looking confused. “You are awfully jumpy today, Tidus.” She frowns, considering something. “Or were you always jumpy?”

You chuckle nervously, running a hand through your hair. “Honestly, it’s a little of both columns.”

“I see,” she says. She nods in the direction of the Gatling gun. “You don’t have to worry about that, I don’t think. When we investigated earlier, Monokuma told us that it wouldn’t fire unless we try to access the other sex’s locker room.” She looks at you again. “That won’t be a problem?”

You shake your head furiously. “No, of course not!”

A slight smile greets those words. “Good.” Sylvia walks over to the pink door, and holds her Student Handbook to the nearby screen. The door soon clicks open.

“Just like the exercise room, huh?” you ask.

Sylvia nods, opening the door. “Indeed. Kaori and I will see you on the other side.” The door shuts behind her, and you’re alone. You take a quick second to glance at your surroundings, finding swimming equipment strewn around the room. Nothing is out of the ordinary. You step up to the blue door and swiftly unlock it with your own Student Handbook.

The boy’s locker room is mostly bare, but it seems like there was supposed to be more things here but they were taken elsewhere. As it is, two small benches lie in the center of the room and two rows of small lockers are next to the door but that’s it. The only thing on the blue walls is a poster of a girl in a bikini.

“A pervert, Tidus Hayabusa is not,” you mutter to yourself as you carefully fold up your uniform, soon placing it in one of the lockers. You step into your swimsuit, gingerly adjusting it carefully around certain areas. It isn’t every day you wear a swimsuit, after all. Properly attired, towel draped around your shoulders, you walk into the pool area. The smell of chlorine is the first thing you notice, but the next is just how big the pool is. It dominates the entire room.

Kaori and Sylvia stand by the edge, waiting for you, both wearing one-piece black swimsuits.

“You weren’t kidding before,” you say, walking up to them. “This pool is gigantic!”

“Yep,” Kaori says, grinning. “You can barely see the bottom.” She glances at Sylvia. “How deep do you think it is?”

Sylvia looks down into the depths, measuring in her head. “I’d say about fifteen feet or so, maybe more.” You whistle at the number.

You back up a few steps, watching the water and how the lights glint off the water’s surface. “You going in?” you ask.

Kaori notes your readied stance, and grins. “After you, Tidus.”

“I’m taking the first plunge!” you shout as you sprint to the edge of the pool and leap! You tuck into a ball as you sail into the air, and you hear Kaori whoop right before the water envelops you as you land. You grin as you surface. You’ve always had a soft spot for a good cannonball. You tread water easily. The water is a perfect temperature, not too hot and not too cold.

Kaori gives you thumbs up, and promptly jumps in, dragging Sylvia by the hand into the water. You can’t help laughing as you hear Sylvia wail in distress, a wail promptly cut off when she hits the water. Kaori is laughing too as she surfaces, the beads in her hair floating on the water. Sylvia sputters as she too surfaces, her untidy white hair now sopping wet.

“I made it clear I prefer to enter pools by small degrees, Kaori!” she says, glaring at your laughing companion, a trace of real anger in her eyes. In response, Kaori simply splashes her with water. Sylvia rubs the water out of her eyes, and quickly launches an attack of her own at Kaori, the anger disappearing from her face. Of course, you get dragged into the fight as well, but you don’t complain: these types of wars are fun to fight.

“Take that!”

“You’ve made your last mistake!”

“I’ll end your evil menace once and for all!”

Sylvia occasionally shouts battle cries in languages you don’t understand. The war ends when you use both hands to send a mighty wave of water cascading over Kaori and Sylvia, buffeting them under the surface. You laugh triumphantly. Their surrender is a hard-won victory.

Moments later, the three of you are drying off, lounging on one of the nearby bleachers. It's a quiet, pleasant moment. You're tired and content to rest.

“For someone so reluctant to get in the water, you’re a great swimmer, Sylvia.”

Sylvia sniffs, tilting her nose up at Kaori’s compliment. “I’m not reluctant. I merely have a proper way of doing things.” She pauses, reminiscing, the corners of her mouth tilting upwards into a small smile. “I get a bit upset when my routines are broken.”

“Upset? You started a war, you know!” Kaori says, grinning.

Sylvia pauses. “I believe you were the one to begin that onslaught, as you well know.”

You chuckle. “That was a good time, though.”

Sylvia nods. “Indeed. It isn’t every day I can show off my lesser talents to the world.”

You look at her. “You’re that confident in your ability, huh?”

“I once had to swim from Ireland to Scotland,” Sylvia says offhandedly, like she was merely discussing the weather.

“Seriously?” Kaori asks, incredulous. “Why’d you have to do that?”

“I was learning Irish on one of my trips to Ireland,” Sylvia explains. “The family I was with made that a sort of test. They said they wouldn’t teach me any more unless I tried.” She pauses, thinking. “Looking back on it, I’m sure they were joking, but I was determined. I was able to rest in their boat at times, thankfully.”

She looks at the two of you, smiling more widely. “You should have seen the looks on their faces when I made it.”

You couldn’t imagine what it was like to swim between two countries. “I’ve only really swum at school, so I can’t really compare,” you say, chuckling awkwardly.

“What school was that?” Kaori asks, curious.

“Oh, a private school for pilots-in-training,” you say, waving a hand. “My parents wanted me to foster my interest from an early age.” You run a hand through your hair. You don’t usually talk about your parents to anyone. It’s rather embarrassing. “It was expensive, but…” You trail off, unsure of what to say, of how to say it.

“It seems like it paid off, though.” Kaori says, smiling kindly. “I mean, Tidus Hayabusa, Ultimate Pilot at Hope’s Peak Academy? That’s success, right there. Your parents must be super proud!”

You force a nod, trying to smile. “Yeah, they sure are.” A pause in the conversation allows you to direct it elsewhere. “Where did you go to school?” you ask Kaori.

She smiles. “Just a regular old high school. Nothing fancy before Hope’s Peak, anyway. My family couldn’t afford it.” She sighs sadly. “I wonder what they’re doing—“ she starts to say, stopping herself suddenly.

“Are you all right?” Sylvia asks, suddenly concerned.

Kaori nods after a moment, composing herself. “Agro and I were just talking about our families.” She looks out at the water, the beads in her hair clacking softly as she does. “The day of the murder, I mean. I just makes me wonder how they’re doing, if they know that Agro’s—“

“Don’t think like that,” Sylvia says, putting a hand on Kaori’s shoulder.

“It’s just so _sad_ ,” Kaori whispers. “Their families don't even know, I mean.”

You nod, a lump in your throat threatening to form. “Yeah.” What else could you really say, anyway?

You suddenly feel the urge to jump back in the pool, and you do so, lingering under the water a bit longer than necessary.

“What was the purpose of that?” Sylvia asks when you resurface. You laugh nervously, suddenly aware of how random that act was. You think quickly.

“I’m a pretty jumpy guy, I guess.”

Kaori gets up as well, heading instead for the girl’s locker room. She smiles at you and waves as she passes, and you wave back, splashing water inadvertently. “I think I’m going to head back downstairs. This was fun.” She pauses, her hand on the handle. “We should definitely do this again some time.”

You nod, too energetically. “Definitely, definitely!”

Sylvia soon follows after her, waving politely in your direction. You swim laps in the pool, trying to clear your mind, trying to focus only on one edge of the pool at a time. You are unsure exactly how long this goes on for, only that it’s hard to clear your mind. As you swim through the water your mind swims through memories, memories of Agro and memories of childhood, your parents, your old prestigious school for up-and-coming pilots, and the eventual result of that education.

It seems like a long time before your mind goes blank. You eventually tucker out and end up floating near one of the edges of the pool, staring up at the ceiling. Eventually, you sigh sadly and claw your way out of the pool with some effort. You glance quickly at the clock, and realize that you’ve spent many hours in the pool. You look down at your hands, noticing with a slight grin how pruned and silly they look.

“It’s times like these I wish that the bear had installed stairs in the pool,” you say to yourself, noting for the first time that the pool is really one big box, with no stairs or ladder for assistance. You shake your head as you towel off again, feeling refreshed. You had fun today at the pool, and you hope that Kaori and Sylvia did too. You hope that Kaori was telling the truth when she said what she did.

You take your time walking through the halls when you leave the locker room with your wet swimsuit and towel, exploring the second floor quickly on your own. Near the bathrooms is another classroom, almost identical to the ones downstairs. Another staircase, blocked with more shutters, lies nearby.

“How many floors does this school have?” you ask the air, incredulous. The lighting changes from that eerie blue to a cheerier pink color as you walk down the long hallway. Sealed up windows cover the entirety of the one of the walls, and for a second you stare at them, imagining the outside world. What did it look like right now?

“Are there planes flying just outside that I can’t see?” you mutter to yourself. You tear yourself out of your thoughts and see a lone door to the library beside you. You find many shelves full of books, though of what you are not sure, and have no intention of finding out right at the moment.

“There’s more reading material here than one person would ever know what to do with, anyway,” you say, justifying your choice out loud. Strangely, there’s also another door leading somewhere, but it’s locked, try as you might to open it. As you leave, you recall that you never saw any box of DVDs, but then again you never saw Honzo either.

“He probably already took his stash back to his room,” you mutter, chuckling as you close the door behind you. Back in the large hallway, you notice that at the end of the hallway the lighting changes again, and you go to investigate. What you find is an underwhelming dead end with a lone door, a door to another identical classroom.

“What is the Code?” was sprawled sloppily on the whiteboard.

You ignore the taunt, and close the door behind you without a second thought. One thing does perplex you, however.

“Why would the bear unlock only one staircase to the second floor and not both of them?” you mutter to yourself as you wander back to the staircase. As usual, no one can answer your question; or rather the one who can chooses to remain silent. As you walk alone through the first floor hallway, your mind turns to the soggy bundle in your arms. You could let your towel and swimsuit air-dry in your room, or you could take them to the laundry room to use one of the many driers.

“It probably doesn’t really matter,” you mutter to yourself as you walk down the passageway to Hotel Despair, “it’s not going to change my life or anything.”

 

**_If you choose to use a drier in the laundry room, turn to page 210._ **

_If you choose to air-dry your towel and swimsuit in your room, turn to page 220._


	17. Page 210

After a moment of consideration, you turn to the laundry room, opening the door with your free hand. You didn’t think anyone would be in here, but you were wrong: Toshi and Aimi are sitting on the center table. Two of the many washing machines are whirring in the background. You wave at them and quickly stuff your bundle into the nearest drier and turn it on, the display revealing that you have an hour to spare before your swimsuit and towel are dry.

“What’s up, T-Dog?” Toshi asks, swinging her legs back and forth.

“Not too much,” you say, somewhat relieved when you realize Toshi seems to be in a better mood than before. “Just got done swimming with Kaori and Sylvia.”

Toshi beams back at you. “Neat-o! Toshi is just helping Aimi make up some lyrics for her new song!” To emphasize this partnership, she plops her top hat on Aimi’s head. She doesn’t try to take it off, deciding instead to keep staring at you with her weird cat eyes of hers.

You laugh nervously. “So, you’re making a song, Aimi?” An obvious question, but Aimi makes you too nervous to ask anything too profound.

“Yep,” she says, adjusting Toshi’s top hat slightly to have it rest more comfortably on her head.

“What about?” you ask when she doesn’t say more.

She gestures around the room without a word, seeming to think that’s enough of an explanation.

“The laundry room?” you ask, confused.

Aimi sighs. “Hope’s Peak Academy.”

“Aimi’s writing a song about our experiences being locked in here by that crazy robotic bear,” Toshi says, her excitement building with every word. “She doesn’t want to leave anything out, so she asked Toshi to help!” She cackles triumphantly. “Toshi’s mind is like a steel trap ‘cuz she has to memorize every detail of her magic, so of course I’m the perfect magician for the job!”

“Technically, you’re the only magician for the job,” you say, chuckling at your own cleverness.

“Too true, T-Dog, too true!” she says, giggling. “Want to help us?”

You pause, hesitating, running a hand through your hair. “I’m not all that good with music—“ you begin to say.

“You’ll do,” Aimi says, cutting you off mid-sentence.

“And the Mic-Master has spoken!” Toshi says, patting a spot next to her on the table. “Join our Table of Creativity, T-Dog!” Feeling slightly like you’ve been taken hostage, you do as she says.

“What’s the title of this?” you ask, surrendering and accepting your fate.

“Mic Check,” Aimi says, a note of pride in her voice. “Monokuma's first words.”

“Sounds good to me,” you say, inwardly very impressed with Aimi’s memory. That feeling would not dissipate any time soon, as Aimi soon launches into an improvised beat, staring at a washing machine and yet seeing another world altogether. Her hands move around in the air, as if she’s spinning imaginary records. Toshi bobs her head, and you can’t help but do the same. Aimi’s beat is addicting.

“Aimi’s definitely the Ultimate DJ,” you mutter to yourself, barely hearing your own words over the strength and power of Aimi’s music. You slap a hand over your mouth in an attempt to quiet yourself as Aimi begins to rap and somehow maintain her improvised beat at nearly the same time.

_“Mic Check, Mic Check,_

_Can anyone hear me? We’re trapped here,_

_Trapped in the building forevermore,_

_Monokuma’s our headmaster bear,_

_Black and white, two sides of the same coin,_

_The bear holds sixteen over the flames,_

_Says it wants to play a little game,_

_Kill someone, go free, graduate,_

_Otherwise, you’re stuck eternally,_

_Mic Check, Mic Check,_

_Everyone got the message? Have fun,_

_Kick back, relax, have a killin’ time!”_

Aimi’s rap and beat stop instantly, and she looks at you as Toshi cheers. “That’s all I’ve got.” You nod vigorously, taking your hand away from your mouth as you do.

“Can I ask a question?” You wince as you imagine another punch to the face in your future. When Aimi nods once, you gulp visibly.

“Why do it?” As you say the words, you run through the most efficient exit strategy in your head. Toshi immediately begins whistling loudly, and decides to get off the Table of Creativity, going over to inspect something _very_ interesting in a corner of the laundry room.

Aimi shrugs. “People…need to know.” She looks away, at the running drier where you can see your towel and swimsuit tumbling around inside. Her gaze, dark underneath the brim of Toshi’s top hat, hardens somewhat. “This place...is just fuel for my music.”

“But people have died,” you say, blocking out Agro in your mind as the words leave your mouth.

“Toshi knows Aimi will be respectful!” Toshi cries, latching onto your shoulder. “You just have to trust her!”

Visions of Kaori at the pool earlier make you open your mouth to protest, though to what you’re not entirely sure—

“Chill.”

Aimi’s one word causes you both to freeze. She stands up swiftly, takes a breath, and lets it out. “People made mistakes and they died for it; maybe it’ll happen again.” She begins to move, walking towards the door. “People need to know, though, and I can’t run away from what _I know_ happened. It’s fine to be sad, but I can’t just shut down.”

She pauses at the door, her cat eyes almost glowing underneath the brim of the top hat. Your mouth moves but no words come out. Toshi’s hand is still digging into your shoulder. Aimi flips Toshi’s top hat onto its owner’s head with a quick movement.

“That’s not cool, you know?” She walks out before the two of you can even react, waving a silent goodbye as the laundry room door shuts behind her. In the silence that follows, the activity of the two washing machines ceases.

Neither Toshi nor you move for a moment or two after the door closes, but finally Toshi retracts her hand from your shoulder. She heads to the washing machines, quickly loading the different loads of wet clothes into other driers. You stay where you are.

“Toshi was not expecting that,” Toshi says, slamming the drier doors with a loud clamor, effectively shattering the silence.

You run a hand through your hair, trying to grin. “Yeah.”         

She comes over to stand right next to you. “Cheer up, T-Dog! People have all kinds of different methods at getting through rough days!” She grins at you. “Toshi has magic, so that’s the best way, of course, but difference is good!”

“Of course,” you say, chuckling despite yourself.

“Although in a way, Aimi’s an honorary magician,” Toshi says, tapping her chin, looking deep in thought.

You remember how glum Toshi was earlier today. “You doing okay, Toshi?” you ask, chuckling nervously.

You think you see Toshi’s face fall slightly, but she covers this with a large grin. “Yep yep! Toshi’s doing just fine today! No complaints, no sir, none at all!”

Nodding, you smile back.

“See you later, T-Dog!” Toshi says, waving as she suddenly dashes out of the laundry room. You wave after her, although you aren’t sure Toshi saw it in her haste.

“What a mess,” you mutter, lying back on the Table of Creativity. No one else joins you in the laundry room, leaving you alone. However, it turns out to not be all that bad; the sounds of the driers and the smell of detergent are oddly soothing. You even try to think up a new lyric for Aimi, but you ultimately can’t think of anything too inspired. After you return to your room with your dry swimsuit and towel, the rest of your night is spent on your own. Before Monokuma’s nighttime announcement even occurs, you crawl under the covers, exhausted, and fall asleep.

In the morning, you sleep in, waking only when Monokuma broadcasts its morning announcement. You leap out of bed and run to the bathroom, and you’re in such a flurry of rushed activity that you nearly miss that Monokuma wants to meet up again in the gymnasium. Not five minutes later, you dash out of your room, hair still damp from the shower, and sprint to the cafeteria for a quick breakfast. A tired Dio nods at you as you prepare your breakfast, and you wave back.

“What do you think the bear wants?” you ask, buttering your toast quickly.

Dio grunts noncommittally. “Who knows what that bastard’s got in store for us,” he eventually says, rubbing his eyes. Putting his hands in his pockets, he slouches out without another word. You follow a few minutes later, your stomach at least somewhat satisfied with your offering of buttered toast.

“Good to see you’re all still here!” Monokuma cackles when fourteen pairs of eyes stare up at it on the gymnasium’s stage. No one responds. “Well, I thought that yesterday you all had time to explore and unwind, and I was planning on giving you another day to relax,” Monokuma says, waddling back and forth onstage. It stops suddenly, and its red eye flashes once. “However, waiting is so despairingly boring! That’s why it’s time to say hello to your second motive!”

You flinch instinctively, but nothing immediately happens.

“Mess up something, Beary?” Aika asks, raising an eyebrow.

“He’s lying; he doesn’t have anything planned,” Ichigo says quietly to herself. You notice that she looks a lot better than she did yesterday. Her day at the bath must have been a good choice for her.

Monokuma grins wider. “Oh, I’ve got something planned all right. But this motive requires a little class participation!” It cackles loudly, the sound of its merriment bouncing off the walls.

“What do you mean?” Honzo asks, pointing dramatically at Monokuma. “We are not going to blindly follow what you tell us to do!”

“That sounds like dissension in the ranks! You’ll do what I say now or you’ll lecture the Grim Reaper next!” Monokuma says, slashing a paw in a vicious motion. “That clear?” it asks Honzo, its voice dangerously low. Honzo gulps, tugs at his collar, and looks away.

“Take a look around at your classmates,” Monokuma says, its voice taking on a more hypnotic quality to it. You glance around at everyone, and they all do the same. None of you are sure exactly what you are supposed to be seeing.

“Does it feel like you’ve ever seen them before?” Monokuma continues.

“We’ve been trapped here for days,” Kanzaki says, displeasure clear on his face. “That’s an idiotic question.”

“Before all this happened, I mean,” Monokuma answers, mostly ignoring Kanzaki’s outburst. You visibly shake your head as you glance around the gymnasium. You had never seen any of them before you’d been trapped at Hope’s Peak Academy. You were absolutely certain. Their reactions mirror yours: none of you have known each other before Monokuma captured you all.

Monokuma cackles to itself, taking a strange pleasure in your confusion. “Nothing? Nobody recognizes anyone?” It pauses, as if savoring the moment. “What if I told you that you absolutely had known each other before I locked you all in here?”

“What the hell does that mean, you son of a bitch?” Dio snarls, his hands curling into fists.

“Let me ask you a question,” Monokuma says, grin widening. “When do you think you entered Hope’s Peak Academy for the first time as a student?”

A brief silence follows those words.

“It was just a couple of days ago, right?” you say, running a hand through your hair, suddenly nervous and uncertain with your answer.

“I agree with Tidus,” Sylvia says. “We were all new arrivals at Hope’s Peak only a few days ago, and at that time you kidnapped us.”

Monokuma pauses, rubbing its chin with a paw, humming in thought. “Allow me to cut through those words!” it yells after a moment of contemplation.

“Isn’t that strange?” it asks all of you. “Let me tell you, it wasn’t the work of a few minutes to cover up every window in the building!”

“What…are you trying to say?” Yosuke asks.

“I’m saying that my work on the windows didn’t exist when you first came to Hope’s Peak, you nimrod!” Monokuma cackles.

“Leave him alone, Monokuma,” Tadakatsu says, a rare display of anger on his face at Yosuke’s distress. “Say your piece and then be done with it!”

“Sir, yes sir,” Monokuma says mockingly, snapping to attention and laughing. “The motive this time is your very own memory! Really, it’s what you can’t remember!”

Shock echoes throughout the room, and Monokuma’s mocking grin widens. “You were all students at Hope’s Peak for two years before this incident!” Its words and their accompanying cackle chill you to the bone. “I’ve taken your previous school memories!”

“That’s impossible,” you mutter to yourself, and similar declarations of implausibility echo throughout the room.

“I thought you’d react like that,” Monokuma says, shaking its head sadly. “Kids these days don’t trust anyone.” The bear produces a photo seemingly from nowhere. “That’s why I’ve got photographic evidence! There’s more scattered around the Academy, this one’s just a freebie!” It cackles as it throws the lone photo into the crowd.

Kaori scoops it up, and you all gather around.

“That’s not…” you start to say, but trail off.

In the photo, Agro and Miyuki look back at you. His arm’s reaching up around her shoulders, and her arm is around his waist. Agro looks amused, almost like he’s about to laugh at something, and Miyuki’s reaching for the camera, an odd combination of anger and embarrassment on her face. They’re dressed exactly how you remember them before…

“Oh, and before you ask, _this_ photo is one hundred percent real!” Monokuma yells, cackling at the expressions on your faces.

“So, what, we’ve got amnesia or something?” Aika asks, not looking pleased. “Really?”

Monokuma giggles again. “Something like that.” It pulls out some files, and sets them on the stage. “You may have lost your memories to begin with, but I’m feeling generous! So here’s my gracious offer to you: kill someone within the next forty-eight hours and survive the trial, and I’ll give you these as a special reward!” It points at the stack of files. “Here are files that detail what you were all up to during the time you forgot!” It chuckles quietly. “What you did, who you did, it’s all there!

“If none of you kills anyone, these files might just end up in an incinerator just like your pal Agro! You’ll forever lose your chance to remember what happened!”

Monokuma falls silent, watching the fourteen of you react to the news. Silence reigns in the gymnasium. The bear waves a paw cheerily, and vanishes without another peep. Like many of your classmates, you continue to stare at the photo.

“Amnesia?” you mutter quietly to yourself, not caring about the stares that turn your way. “Is that true?”

Agro and Miyuki’s scene, caught in a moment frozen in time, slips through Kaori’s fingers and flutters gently to the floor.

Shaking, you stare at the photo, unsure, but your racing mind soon grasps on a firm thought about the photo and Monokuma’s words…

 

_If you believe Monokuma is telling the truth, turn to page 207._

_**If you believe Monokuma is lying, turn to page 270.** _

           


	18. Page 270

“The bear has to be lying about this.” Your breath catches in your throat. “He _has_ to be.”

“But it’s not possible to get all of this work done in a few days!” Kaori says, shaking her head, “It would take months, at least!”

“We weren’t sure how long we were unconscious for,” Aika says, tapping her chin with a gloved hand, a troubled look on her face. “Maybe it really has been two years, after all.”

Dio punches his hand. “You’re all just going to accept what that bastard bear says because of a fucking photo?” He snorts in disgust. “And you call me an idiot…”

“So you don’t believe him?” Sylvia asks, her expression unreadable.

“Of course not!” Dio says, throwing up his hands. “This whole amnesia thing is crazy!” He looks at Tadakatsu. “C’mon man, back me up here!”

Tadakatsu looks unsure, but he nods. “Y-yes, that’s it. Monokuma must be just trying to rile us up just like last time.”

Kanzaki suddenly begins to laugh uproariously. All the rest of you can do is stare at him as he cackles. Absurd tears of mirth soon stream down his face.

“Toshi doesn’t get the joke,” Toshi says as Kanzaki’s laughing fit begins to quiet.

Kanzaki is still chuckling as he wipes at his eyes, soon taking out an envelope from his pocket, retrieving the letter inside. “I found this on a shelf in the library. As great as I think you all arguing and losing your minds is, this letter proves Monokuma is telling the truth.” He grips the letter tight, utterly confident.

Ichigo tries to compose herself, but her fear is plain to see. “What does it say?”

“Oh, nothing much…besides the fact that Hope’s Peak Academy shut its doors over a year ago.” Kanzaki says, smirking. It explains why we’re the only one’s in the Academy quite nicely, wouldn’t you say?” He passes his prize off to Ichigo. “Take a look at it if you want. The letter’s at least several months old.” He looks pointedly at Dio and you.

“It’s really been two years…and we can’t remember anything…” Tatiana says quietly as she scans the letter, eyes wide. Yosuke just nods as he glances it over, too stunned for words.

Honzo shakes his head firmly, and points at Kanzaki. “I refuse to accept that, you miserable wretch! There is something bothering me, and you know exactly what that is!”

“What are you talking about?” Kanzaki asks, irritated.

Honzo pauses dramatically, but soon his confidence slides off his face. “Blast, this is usually the part where they accidentally let their fatal weakness slip out,” he mutters. “I withdraw my objection,” he says in a louder voice, and Kanzaki rolls his eyes.

Edwin coughs quietly into his scarf, drawing all eyes on him.

“There are holes in both Monokuma’s statement and Kanzaki’s discovery,” he says after a brief pause.

“What kind of holes?” you ask, relief flooding through you.

Kanzaki narrows his eyes at Edwin’s challenge. “I’m curious, Edwin, at what you could’ve possibly discovered.” His tone is an ugly one.

Edwin coughs again, and pushes his glasses further up on his nose. “The main thing you take for granted is…something I do not accept. What if we are not in the Academy at all?”

Mostly blank stares follow this question. Edwin clears his throat. “Monokuma said his work took time, yes? This was…time he probably did not have.” He nods at Kaori. “The work of months, according to our expert.”

Kanzaki begins to object, but Edwin holds up a hand for silence, forestalling his objection. “When we were unconscious, Monokuma carried us to another location he prepared in advance.” He pauses, considering. “A…perfect replica, perhaps.” He looks around the group. “Am I making sense to anyone?”

“So, Monokuma tricked us into thinking we were at Hope’s Peak Academy…when we’ve been somewhere else the whole time?” Tatiana asks. Edwin nods, smiling at her.

Tadakatsu looks less certain. “But where are we, then? This place is massive. I’ve never heard of any building even remotely like the Academy!” He sighs, looking frustrated. “I’m not sure what to believe.”

“I’ve studied the blueprints of the building,” Kaori says, shaking her head, “Hope’s Peak Academy is an architect’s nightmare—extremely hard to replicate.” She looks at Edwin, smiling sadly. “I’m sorry, Edwin, but it just doesn’t make sense.”

Edwin sighs. “It’s only a theory. But I have another reason why I agree with Tidus and Dio about the ridiculousness of amnesia.”

“And that is?” Kanzaki asks quickly, finally getting a few words in.

“Our bags,” Edwin says, crossing his arms.

“What?” Kanzaki says, shock on his face.

“I don’t know about all of you,” Edwin says, looking around, “but my bag was exactly as I’d packed it when I left home. Nothing was…out of place.” He pauses to let his words sink in. “Wouldn’t you say that that’s an…impossibility if two years have really passed?”

Aika hums in thought, tapping her gloved hands together as she does. “That’s possible, but Monokuma could have planned for that. It’s not totally a foolproof argument.” She pauses, meeting Edwin’s eye. “No offense.”

“Edwin’s argument does have a certain amount of plausibility,” Sylvia says after a moment of silence.

You nod. “It makes more sense than the bear’s lie.”

Your words don’t appear to convince any of the doubters, and you all leave the gymnasium at an impasse on the whole situation. You find yourself in the cafeteria a few minutes later, though you hardly remember walking there. Most of your classmates are there as well, but not everyone.

“What’s everyone going to do today?” Tadakatsu asks, trying to clear the air. No one answers him. He looks at each of you in turn, looking desperate for an answer.

You are about to say that you want to swim again, but you lose your chance suddenly as Toshi sprints into the cafeteria, clutching something to her chest.

“Have any of you been back to your rooms yet?” she asks between gasps for breath as you all look at her.

“What’s the matter?” Kaori asks as she guides her to an empty seat.

“Toshi discovered something in her room that wasn’t there before, and it isn’t something from the Interdimensional Rift!” Toshi says. She throws the something she had onto the table, a something that is another photo.

You stare at the photo and see sixteen familiar people arranged around wooden desks, your own face among them. You’re smiling wide, holding up a peace sign. You notice that everyone looks happy, like it’s a class picture. A saluting Tadakatsu is ruffling Yosuke’s hair with his free hand, Toshi’s top hat is high in the air, Dio has his hands on what appears to be a portable pinball game, and Kaori smiles while displaying a small birdhouse on her desk. You feel a slight pang in your chest when you see a grinning Agro proudly displaying his middle finger for the camera, flipping off the cameraperson, while Miyuki looks like she’s about to burst out laughing at his antics. There’s too much going on in this photo to absorb in such a short time. The sun streaming through the window casts a warm orange light on the active and pleasant scene. It was a scene that you never remembered happening, but it feels…plausible.

You shake your head viciously, trying to clear it: Monokuma was _lying_ about you having amnesia.

“Did someone say something?” Edwin asks suddenly, looking around, befuddled.

“You hear something?” Aika asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Just for a moment, I thought I heard a voice…” Edwin begins, but shakes his head, coughing into his scarf. “It’s nothing, I’m sure.”

Tatiana is paler than she had been a minute ago. “Does everyone have a photo like this in their own dormitory room?” she asks, looking around, her gaze lingering on Edwin. Dio quickly answers that question, running into the cafeteria, a photo clenched in a hand.

“You guys see—“ he stops when he sees Toshi’s photograph. He’s nearly growling as he slides into an empty seat. “I found the same one in my room,” he says, tossing it onto the table with Toshi’s. They are indeed exact matches.

“Is this what Monokuma meant when he said he had more photographic evidence?” Sylvia asks, her voice shaking slightly.

“Guys, it’s just another fake photo, just like last time,” you say. “I mean, none of us remember this, right?”

“If we had amnesia, we wouldn’t remember this happening,” Ichigo says, sparks flying in her pink eyes. “That’s, like, the whole point of amnesia!” You have no new counter for that, so you stay silent.

“Please, everyone calm down,” Tadakatsu says, taking care to keep his voice level and calm, even as he looks just as lost and confused as the rest of you. “Just because this photo exists doesn’t mean we need to lose our minds.”

“Orange light shines into the classroom,” Aimi says, still staring at the photographs on the table.

“Oh, is that another lyric for your new hit song, Mic-Master?” Toshi asks, excited once again.

Aimi shrugs. “We don’t have any uncovered windows here, that’s all. We can’t see the sun.” She looks up at Toshi. “It’s a possibility for a lyric, though.” Toshi cackles with glee.

“Your song sounds really cool,” Ichigo says, smiling at Aimi sweetly. “Any chance we can work on it together?”

Aimi pauses, obviously reluctant. “I don’t think so,” she finally says. Ichigo sighs, looking disappointed.

The conversation gradually begins to shift away from the strange photos on the table, although their implications remain ever-present. There seems to now be something slightly forced in the smiles and laughs that come, something guarded in the conversation. Everyone is on edge, and you are no exception, even if you don’t believe the photos are genuine. You catch yourself scanning the faces of your classmates.

“What’s going to happen?” you mutter, and for once no one hears you. They are too absorbed by the surrounding conversations or their own thoughts. When you all stand up to go your separate ways, Tadakatsu claps his hands and clears his throat loudly.

“I want to say this for everyone here to hear,” he says. “Monokuma’s ‘reward’ is not worth killing over. Just…stay calm.”

You all leave the cafeteria. You are about to head back to your room to check to see if you have a photo of your own, but--

“What are you planning?” Tatiana's question is soft, but it stops you in your tracks. Everyone else heads off on their own, seemingly oblivious. 

You run a hand through your hair. “Planning? Oh, you know, to  relax, mostly. I might go for another swim.” A thought occurs to you: this is the first time Tatiana has asked you a direct question. She seems more nervous than you are, when you really look at her. “Why? What are you, uh, planning?”

“O-oh, maybe...you talked to Edwin?” she says, her voice getting quieter and quieter.

“Can’t say I have,” you say, cutting off your nervous laugh when it looks like Tatiana is about to bolt form the sound. “I could, though.” Your voice lowers to a conspiratorial whisper. “Do you have a secret message for him?”

Tatiana stares at you for a moment, and then nods, dumbstruck. “Tell him… I said okay.”

You pause. “That’s it?”

She nods again, running off before you can inquire further, cheeks flushed red. You walk down the blood-red hallway and approach Edwin’s door, trying not to look at the door next-door. You ring the doorbell, and a few seconds later Edwin opens the door, looking confused.

“Are you hurt, Tidus?” he asks.

You shake your head wildly. “Nope, not hurt. I’ve, uh, got a message from Tatiana.”

“Oh?” Edwin’s expression is unreadable.

“She said okay.” You run a hand through your hair. “Does that mean anything to you?”

Edwin’s face breaks out in a wide grin, and he shakes your hand. “Wonderful! I must get ready!” The door shuts, and you walk back to your room shaking your head.

“Today just keeps getting weirder,” you mutter.

The photo is placed neatly on your pillow. You throw it on your table after a moment, grab your suit and towel, and walk out again.

The rest of the day seems to pass in a blur. You spend more hours doing laps at the pool alone, and then you head to the library to see if you can find something interesting. Not much catches your eye, and you head back down to the first floor with no books to show for your efforts. You wolf down a quick dinner with the few people who happen to be there, dry off your wet things in the laundry room again, and it’s time for bed before you realize it. Monokuma’s nighttime announcement sounds right as you close your room’s door behind you. You get into your pajamas and under the covers, exhausted from all that’s happened.

“Sleeping Gods, please be merciful,” you whisper into the darkness. Something hears your prayer that night, it seems, because you soon drift off, and dream of a crowded room tinged with the light of an orange sun...

The sound of bells wakes you too early, one in the morning according to the clock. The nearby screen flickers to life, and Monokuma’s face fills the screen. Its cackle is not something you wanted to hear so early, but you were simply not ready for the words it speaks.

_"Attention students! A body has been found! I repeat, a body has been found! We’ll be holding a Class Trial soon enough, so make good use of the time you’ve got! Try not to fall asleep on the job, either!”_

The screen flickers off, and for a moment you think you were just dreaming. That illusion shatters when your doorbell rings, and you stumble to the door, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes.

Sylvia stands there in her swimsuit, looking disturbed. “Come to the pool,” she says quickly, voice cracking. “That’s where they are.”

Without bothering to change out of your pajamas, you hurry after her, your bare feet pounding on the cool tiles. You try to ask Sylvia who it was, but she doesn’t answer, merely leading you up the steps in silence. Both the locker room doors are now wide open, and you run through your locker room, bursting out the door to the pool.

You notice with shock that the water has vanished. Many people, also in their nightclothes, look down into the drained pool. Kaori has a hand over her mouth, Tadakatsu has his head in his hands, Toshi is crying, and Dio swears loudly and Aika joins in, their colorful language bouncing off the walls. You step to the edge…and look down.

Aimi and Edwin lay face-up at the bottom of the pool, utterly still. They are near each other, but Aimi is more perpendicular to the edge and Edwin is parallel. Their eyes are closed, their skin is pale, and blood mixes with the puddles of water that remain. You finally realize that it was not one body that Monokuma was talking about, but _two_.

Edwin and Aimi, living and breathing before, are now dead.

 

_If you are too stunned to react, turn to page 215._

_If you begin to cry, turn to page 223._

_If you scream, turn to page 235._

_If you faint, turn to page 242._

_**If you call down to them, turn to page 201.** _


	19. Page 201

“Aimi, Edwin! Can you hear me?” you call down to the two lying at the bottom of the pool. They do not stir, nor do they answer you. You try again, watching for any sign of movement, but you are disappointed.

Tatiana is the last to come through the girl’s locker room door, looking pale. She opens her mouth to speak, but only an odd squeak escapes her lips as she sees Edwin lying down there, motionless, and she crumples to the floor. Before she hits her head, Tadakatsu grabs her, and gently carries her to one of the nearby bleachers to rest, each step slower and slower than the last.

Honzo and Kanzaki, both in their regular clothes and the last of you to make it to the scene, step through the pool area’s threshold.

“What happened to the water?” Honzo asks at first. He lets out a scream and jumps back when he catches sight of Edwin and Aimi, nearly falling over. No one silences him or pays him any mind. Kanzaki handles the ghastly sight with more control. His eyebrows rise slightly, but other than that he shows no emotion. He begins looking around at all of you with the air of a predator, as if he can find the guilty party with only a glance.

“How the hell are we supposed to get down there?” Dio asks.

“I believe Aika said before that there was a ladder in the storeroom?” Sylvia asks quietly, looking away from Aimi and Edwin down below, eyes shut tight.

Aika snaps her fingers, shooting upright. “Sylvia’s right, Pompadour! Come on!” When she snaps her fingers at Dio to hurry him up, it sounds like the crack of a whip. Dio stands up, looking like he’d like to argue, but decides against it with a rough shake of his head. The two run off in silence.

Tears in her eyes, Ichigo slumps to her knees. Whispering words that you can’t quite hear, those tears threaten to fall, but she takes a look at Tatiana on the bleachers and viciously rubs at her eyes, sniffling.

It is then that Monokuma appears, jumping up and down on one of the bleachers, cackling with glee. “Thought I’d pop by and hand you all something useful!” It pulls out a black file with a large red number _2_ on it. “Enjoy the second Monokuma File!” it says with a cheery note in its voice, throwing the file to Tadakatsu, who snags it out of the air.

“Later, you crazy kids! We’ll be in touch,” Monokuma says, chuckling darkly before disappearing.

You all sit in silence, waiting for Dio and Aika to return. You watch carefully for any movement from either Aimi or Edwin.

“I’m surprised I’m not crying,” you mutter to yourself. Dry-eyed, you continue your vigil, occasionally calling out to them. No one tells you to be quiet. Perhaps everyone here wants them to stand up, and call out that they were all right, and still alive.

“Perhaps even whoever’s responsible wants that to be true.” The words escape your mouth before you can stop them. Several people glance your way, but you’re spared having to explain yourself when Dio and Aika barge back into the pool area, ladder from the storeroom in tow. They work quickly setting up the ladder, and luckily it’s large enough to still be accessible when it rests at the bottom. The ladder slides slightly as Dio steps on the first rung carefully. The pool bottom is a slick surface.

“You want to hold onto this so I don’t break my neck?” he asks Aika.

Aika lies on her stomach, holding the ladder tightly in her hands. “Could’ve used a better choice of words there, champ,” she quips.

“What the hell do—“ Dio starts to say, but abruptly looks down and stops, shaking his head. As Dio begins to climb down the ladder carefully, balancing precariously, Aika looks around for something, smirking when she looks at Tadakatsu holding the Monokuma File.

“I thought Beary would pop in sooner or later,” she says as she holds the ladder steady. “You want to read the file for us? I would, but I’ve got my hands full.”

Tadakatsu jerks slightly, as if finally realizing what he holds in his hands. “Yes, of course,” he says, opening up Monokuma’s second file. He clears his throat, and begins to try to recite the words there in a calm, clear voice. His voice only wavers a few times.

“The victims in this case are Edwin Albrecht and Aimi Annen. The bodies were found at the bottom of the drained pool. The time of death was around eleven at night, and…Aimi died a few minutes before Edwin. Both victims have a similar wound on the back of their heads…several broken bones, although in this case the cause of death was not the same.” He closes the file and throws it to the ground, as if he can’t bear to look at it anymore.

From the bottom of the pool, Dio shakes his head, taking his hand away from Aimi’s neck. “The file isn’t lying. They’re both…dead.” He sighs sadly, rubbing his temples. “Goddammit.”

Kaori shudders. “What are we gonna do?” she says, staring down at her hands, sounding lost, just how you feel.

“Toshi is going to figure out who killed poor, innocent Aimi!” Toshi cries out, tears still streaming down her face. She scrambles down the ladder, nearly falling off it in her haste, but she makes it to the bottom without major incident. “This is a quest for vengeance! Toshi will never forgive you!” she shouts up at the rest of you, angrier than you’ve ever seen her. With eyes are fierce as that, you imagine she probably looks like that Mazabu thing she talks about sometimes.

“Color me impressed with Toshi’s zeal,” Honzo says quietly, straightening his tie. “I think I will stay here for the time being.”

Yosuke holds up the trash key. “You think the killer used the incinerator again?”

“Probably not, but it never hurts to check,” Aika says, standing up. She smirks at Yosuke. “Nice thinking, short stuff.”

“I-I want to help, too!” Ichigo says, stammering only slightly.

Tadakatsu looks at Tatiana for a moment. “Someone should probably take her out of here during the investigation, keep her calm,” he says. “I’d be willing, but I think she’d benefit more from…” his sentence ends abruptly, and he scratches the back of his head, looking away awkwardly.

“Another girl’s presence, right?” Sylvia asks. Tadakatsu nods after a moment of silence. “I’ll take her to the cafeteria, if anyone feels too overwhelmed and wants to join us,” Sylvia says, heading over to the bleachers.

Kanzaki steps forward, the smirk back on his face. “Even though I already have my suspicions, I’ll be interviewing everyone just like I did last investigation.” He pauses. “If anyone wants to join me, I suppose that’s…acceptable.” It seems to have taken a great effort for him to say those last few words.

You take a deep breath and let it out, running through your options in your mind. The others seem to be doing the same.

You make up your mind. “I think I’ll…”

 

_If you want to investigate the pool area, turn to page 291._

_If you want to investigate hallways, other places, and the trash room, turn to page 294._

_If you want to help interview people with Kanzaki, turn to page 297._

_If you want to go to the cafeteria with Sylvia and Tatiana, turn to page 299._


	20. Page ???

“…be a lone wolf,” you say, grinning despite the situation. “I’ll start here at the crime scene and work my way out.” You look at Yosuke. “I’ll try to meet up with you later, but no promises!”

“S-sounds good!” Yosuke says, trying to smile through his nervousness, a feat that you can relate to. He heads out of the pool area soon after your exchange, face reddening when he attempts to adjust a cap that isn’t currently on his head.

“Take care of Pompadour for me,” Aika calls over her shoulder as she follows him out, a tiny smirk on her face. You think it’s somewhat strange that she even wears her gloves to bed. “He’d be the one to mess up a crime scene.”

Ichigo is the last to join Yosuke’s exploration team. She tries to say something to the others at the pool’s bottom, but quickly shakes her head and runs out without a word, and the scent of strawberries flees with her.

“Shall we be off, then?” Sylvia murmurs to Tatiana as she drapes one of her charge’s arms over a shoulder, walking slowly to the door. Kaori joins them, taking Tatiana’s other arm, and the trio make their way out of the pool area with no further comment.

Tadakatsu walks over to Kanzaki, offering a hand. “I’ll be glad to assist you in whatever way I can.”

Kanzaki pauses a beat before lazily shaking the offered hand. “You’ll handle the tape recorder,” he says, digging into his pocket and taking out the device.

Tadakatsu nods, smiling. “A smart choice, I think.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Kanzaki says, grinning lazily. “I think you’re going to be a much better assistant than Honzo.”

Being the closest to Kanzaki, this time you’re the first to be interviewed. It’s a painless process, however: no uncomfortable questions, and you definitely didn’t leave anything out. You finish speaking about how you both went to bed and woke up with Monokuma’s announcements, and Kanzaki clicks his pen while nearby Tadakatsu stops recording.

“We’re done here, I think.” Kanzaki says, eyeing you up and down. “You weren’t punched in the face again, anyway.” He waves you off toward the ladder. “Call up Honzo for me.” He grimaces. “A part of me really hopes he did it…”

You do so, and Honzo ascends the ladder as Dio holds it stable. You do not immediately take his place on the ladder when he makes it to the top, holding up a hand for Dio to wait. He huffs and rolls his eyes, but he does wait.

“That’s a success in my book,” you mutter to yourself. You walk along the edges of the pool area, looking for a button, or any sort of device that you would have missed before. If there was a button, the culprit could have used it to drain the pool somehow. However, your search is a fruitless one; there’s nothing of interest on this level of the crime scene.

“How were they able to drain the pool?” you mutter to yourself as you finally descend the ladder, praying that you don’t fall.

“What was that, man?” Dio asks, still holding the ladder steady.

“I was wondering how the killer was able to drain the pool,” you call down in a louder voice.

“Oh, yeah, I guess that’s an important question,” Dio says. “You think there’s a button somewhere?”

“Anything’s possible at this point,” you say as you step off the ladder, nearly slipping on the slick surface of the bottom of the pool. Wobbling, you manage to keep your balance.

It’s clearly a struggle for Dio not to smirk at your struggle. “I’ll look over Edwin. Toshi’s…taking care of Aimi,” he says.

“I’ll check around the bottom for anything first,” you say. You point at your eyes. “Pilot’s eyes, you know?”

Dio nods, heading over to Edwin’s body. “We’re not going anywhere.” He pauses. “And for the record, a pilot’s eyesight is nothing compared to a pinball wizard’s.”

You turn away without saying anything, eyes scouring the floor. You squint, trying to see with only a glance what the culprit left behind. It’s not that easy, and you have to carefully walk around the pool bottom. It’s quiet for the moment, with only the sounds of the interview coming from many feet above you. You take a breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm down. You have to concentrate.

You nearly step on your first clue, and recoil in horror, wobbling backward. Broken glass covers a small portion of the bottom.

“Guys, there’s broken glass down here,” you say weakly to the others, trying to contain the quaver in your voice.

“Careful, T-Dog! Toshi noticed that before. It’s a devilish trap set by the culprit,” Toshi says, turning away from Aimi for the first time in a long time, pointing at the glass with a glare on her face. “They’re hoping to lead more to their doom!”

“Right,” you say in a shaky voice as Toshi turns back to her vigil. You turn back to the broken glass, and realize there’s also a bit of plastic amidst the glass.

“Really weird,” you mutter, but you soon turn to find other mysteries. “There’s got to be more to find down here.”

Your efforts lead to only one more major discovery: a lone screw in one of the corners. You are about to ask what it could have come from, but then you see the ladder.

“Hey Dio,” you say, holding up the screw, “did the ladder lose a screw?”

“I wasn’t paying much attention to it,” Dio says, shrugging. He walks over to the ladder, allowing Honzo to come back down after his interview. “Let me check.”

You tap your foot as Honzo so meticulously steps down rung by rung, as Dio surveys the ladder. You have a feeling that this is important somehow, like it’s a breakthrough just waiting to be discovered..

“Yeah, there’s definitely a missing screw near the middle!” Dio calls out after a moment. “It’s probably half the reason why this ladder’s so damn troublesome,” he says.

“The mystery of the missing screw is solved, I guess,” you say, still tapping your foot, still thinking of the important clue you found.

Honzo takes Dio’s place holding the ladder, and Dio begins the climb upwards. “Don’t drop me, you hear?” Dio says from the fourth rung up. “This neck of mine is pretty valuable!”

Honzo smiles up at him, unconcerned and confident. “My hands are the steadiest in Japan,” he says. “What could possibly go wrong?” Dio just grumbles to himself as he continues to climb.

You finally decide to approach Edwin’s body. As you walk toward the body, you start to shake, but you suppress it to the best of your ability. This is the closest you’ve been to a dead body.

“Wait, that’s not true,” you mutter to yourself, “Miyuki was…”

Shaking your head, clearing it of the memories of the last trial for the moment, you kneel down next to Edwin. It’s at this close vantage point you notice just how _pale_ he is. You take another deep breath.

“Come on, Tidus, you’ve got to do this,” you say, gritting your teeth. You quickly but thoroughly begin to go through all of Edwin’s pockets, trying to avoid looking at his skin or face. Your hand grasps paper. When you pull it out, you hold a pink slip of paper, perfectly legible words scrawled out in pink ink. You murmur the words as you read them.

_“Thanks for agreeing to help me convince Aimi to accept more help with her song. Remember, eleven o’clock at the pool!”_

“You need to learn to speak up,” Honzo says from right behind you, causing you to jump to your feet. Honzo adjusts his orange glasses as you run a hand through your hair, trying to compose yourself.

“What do you have there?” he asks, raising an eyebrow at the pink piece of paper.

“I found this in Edwin’s pocket,” you say, handing the paper to Honzo. “You think the killer wrote this?”

“It seems a likely conclusion,” Honzo says, scanning the paper and then looking down at Edwin’s body. “You have any idea of what killed him? The file said the causes of death were different, remember.”

“I, uh, didn’t look all that closely,” you confess after a brief pause. Honzo sighs, and actually takes off his glasses, carefully folding them up and putting them in his coat. You realize that Honzo’s orange glasses hid brown eyes.

“Interesting, very interesting,” he says as he studies Edwin’s body.

“Don’t you need your glasses to see?” you ask, glad to have an excuse to look away from your dead classmate.

Honzo smirks at that, but he doesn’t stop his examination. “Of course not, my orange glasses are only for effect. They have become my signature for my many fans.” He puffs up his chest. “My vision is perfect, thank you very much.”

"You see anything with that perfect vision?” you ask, hoping your sudden bitterness stays under the surface, hidden.

“There is a lot less blood where Edwin is,” Honzo says, his tone indicating that he didn’t notice any drastic shift in mood from you, “and slight bruises on his neck.”

You shift slightly on your feet, acclimating to this new information. “So that means—“

“Edwin was more than likely already dead when he fell in here,” Honzo says, interrupting you. He waves you toward the ladder with a wave of his hand. “Toshi and I will conduct our quest for vengeance down here. You are needed elsewhere, I am sure.” You open your mouth to object, but his tone brooks no argument, and you start towards the ladder.

“There is a twist here somewhere,” Honzo calls after you. “I will find it!”

“Hey Toshi,” you call out, pointedly ignoring Honzo, “mind holding the ladder for me?”

She bounds up from Aimi’s body. “Sure thing, T-Dog! Toshi wishes you the best of luck on your search! We’ll find the culprit, we’ll find him!”

“You find anything useful on Aimi?” you ask quietly as she goes to stand next to you, holding the ladder tight.

Toshi’s face falls as quickly as a stone, and you immediately regret your casual tone. “Nothing really, T-Dog. I think…she died from the fall.”

You pause, one of your hands hovering over her shoulder awkwardly, but you decide, after a moment of initial hesitation, to grab the ladder and climb. “No notes in her pockets?”

“Nothing besides a list of…possible lyrics,” she says. You climb another rung.

You feel a lump in your throat rising. “I’m sorry, Toshi,” you say, loud and clear. Her eyes widen at your words. For once, she seems to have no words.

Your nervous chuckle inadvertently escapes your lips. “Hey, can you check Edwin’s body if you get the chance?” You lower your voice. “I don’t completely trust Honzo’s abilities.”

You’re somewhat relieved when a Toshi giggles, and she salutes for a brief second, quickly grabbing the ladder again when it lurches dangerously. “You got it, T-Dog,” she says.

You unwind yourself from where you were hugging the ladder for dear life, and continue to climb. You pull yourself over the top without falling. You wave to Dio, Tadakatsu, and Kanzaki, and head out through the boys’ locker room door. As you leave, you hear Toshi shouting something about Pegasus hairs being the mark of a powerful sorcerer.

Nothing seems out of place in the locker room. No lockers have been opened, and not even the poster has moved. You walk into the connecting room, intending to walk right out the purple doors, but you stop when you remember the entry logs.

“How do these things even work?” you mutter, tapping the screen with a finger. It lights up at your touch, and words and times appear without any further prompting.

_Boys’ Locker Room Log (Past Twenty-Four Hours)_

_Tidus Hayabusa: Day Five, 1300._

_Agro Tenma: Day Five, 2245._

_Edwin Albrecht: Day Five, 2258._

_Agro Tenma: Day Five, 2320._

_Tadakatsu Yamamoto: Day Six, 0058._

_Yosuke Muramura: Day Six, 0100._

_Dio Uno: Day Six, 0102._

_Locker Room Doors Unlocked For The Investigation._

You couldn’t believe what you were seeing.

“Agro isn’t…here anymore,” you mutter as you tap the wall, lost in thought. “So how could he have opened the locker room to go to the pool?” The obvious answer comes to you, and you swear a light bulb turns on above your head. _Agro_ couldn’t use his Student Handbook to get into the boys’ locker room, but _someone else_ could’ve used Agro’s Student Handbook to get into the boys’ locker room!

“That way, they wouldn’t get shot up by the Gatling gun!” you say, pumping your fist. “Point for Master Investigator Tidus!”

From what you’ve discovered so far, you think you’ve made a massive breakthrough in this case. You decide to check the girls’ locker room entry log just to be safe. You tap the screen, and words and times appear just like you knew they would.

_Girls’ Locker Room Log (Past Twenty-Four Hours)_

_Miyuki Hiyama: Day Five, 2245._

_Aimi Annen: Day Five, 2258._

_Miyuki Hiyama: Day Five, 2321._

_Sylvia Nevermore: Day Six, 0053._

_Kaori Hatagami: Day Six, 0058._

_Ichigo Hana: Day Six, 0100._

_Toshi Kowalski: Day Six, 0101._

_Locker Room Doors Unlocked For The Investigation._

Now you were just confused.

Someone had used both Miyuki’s and Agro’s Student Handbooks last night to get into the different locker rooms. Were they the same person? Were they different people working together? You mutter theories as you walk out the purple doors and down the stairs to the first floor, thinking.

“One thing’s for sure, the culprit’s covered their tracks,” you say as you reach the first floor. You half expect someone to answer you, to give you their own viewpoint, but then you remember you are investigating alone. You think back to when you investigated the trash room with Agro and Aimi.

“What were you thinking about during our investigation, Agro? Were you scared?” you ask the air as you walk down the first floor hallway. You pause. “I would’ve been.”

You shake your head, again banishing these thoughts, and focus on _this_ investigation. You head toward Hotel Despair, hoping to quickly meet up with Yosuke’s exploration team. Your wish comes true as you find them near the cafeteria

“We’ve looked basically everywhere we could,” Ichigo says as you walk up.

Yosuke notices you first, and the others turn to you when he waves.

“How’d the crime scene look, Tidus?” Aika asks, looking deadly serious.

You run a hand through your hair. “We’ve discovered some things, but nothing that pointed to a killer when I left.” You pause. “You guys check the entry logs by the locker rooms?”

“Isn’t it awful?” Ichigo asks. She shudders. “Using...those Handbooks…”

“It definitely makes it more difficult to pin down the culprit,” Aika says. She hums in thought. “They learned from Agro’s crucial mistake, it seems.” She grimaces, realizing whom she was talking to. “Sorry, Tidus.”

You shake your head, moving forward, and turn to Yosuke. “The culprit or culprits try to get rid of anything?”

Yosuke shakes his head, looking slightly confused. “No, the trash room wasn’t used, but…you think there might be two killers?”

You shrug, sighing. “I think it’s possible.” You feel an apologetic smile break out on you face. “Sorry I can’t be more optimistic.”

Aika frowns, but she shakes her head. “No, I think it’s good to be aware of the possibilities.”

“We’ve gotten less than nowhere,” Ichigo says, looking more like “Miss Pink” than ever in her completely pink pajamas. “There’s no way—“

As if on cue, bells tolling throughout the school drown out the rest of her words. Monokuma’s voice rings through the hallways.

_“All right, I think it’s time to get this show on the road. Before you head to the elevator, please get changed into your regular school clothes for me, will you? Continuity is key, boys and girls! I’ll see you in the courtroom for a beary special Second Class Trial! Toodles!”_

Ten minutes later, now dressed properly, the twelve of you pile into the elevator, trying not to think about how there are three more empty spaces. You remember standing right next to Agro as the elevator descended, just as it was doing now…

Like the last elevator ride to the courtroom, it is basically silent. You see a few weary classmates try to rest their eyes for a little bit. Tatiana sniffles in a corner. You can’t bear to look at her. You instead think about the murders. So many thoughts rush through your tired mind at once, but generally, what do you think happened?

 

_If you think a boy killed Edwin and Aimi, turn to page 209._

**_If you think a girl killed Edwin and Aimi, turn to page 227._ **

_If you think there were two killers, turn to page 251._

_If you ultimately can’t decide, turn to page 293._


End file.
